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11 <br />INTRODUCTION <br />In 1972, the north side of Eubanks Road became the site of a solid waste landfill <br />operated by the Town of Chapel Hill. Orange County assumed operational control of the <br />landfill as the result of an August 17, 1999 agreement between the Towns (Chapel Hill, <br />Carrboro, and Hillsborough) and the County. The Historic Rogers Road Community has <br />lived with this landfill for 40 years. Over many years, residents representing the Rogers <br />Road area have voiced concerns about various operational elements associated with <br />the landfill and the impact on the Rogers Road Neighborhood. The Neighborhood is <br />geographically split by the Town of Chapel Hill Joint Planning Transition Area and Town <br />of Carrboro. Orange County, as the current owner /operator of the landfill, is taking the <br />lead to make remediation improvement to the Historic Rogers Road Community. <br />A number of local government initiatives have been implemented to improve the quality <br />of life in the Rogers Road Community and they are as follows: <br />1. The Solid Waste Fund paid $650,000 to extend public water service by the <br />Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) to the Rogers Road area. <br />2. Solid Waste installed gas flares to reduce odors. <br />3. The Town of Chapel Hill initiated bus service on Rogers Road. <br />4. Orange County initiated a no -fault well policy to deal with failing drinking <br />water wells remaining in the adjoining neighborhoods. <br />5. The Orange County Board of Commissioners approved the appropriation of <br />$750,000 from the Solid Waste Fund Balance in the Fiscal 2011/12 Annual <br />Budget to establish a Rogers Road Remediation Reserve Fund and <br />established a $5.00 tipping fee surcharge per ton as long as the landfill is <br />operational to fund the Rogers Road Remediation Reserve Fund. The <br />surcharge generated $216,462 for Fiscal 2011/12 and is estimated to create <br />$222,500 for Fiscal 2012/13, which will bring the total amount available for the <br />Rogers Road Remediation Reserve Fund to $1,188,962. <br />6. A partnership with Orange County and the University of North Carolina <br />created a Landfill Gas to Energy Project that commenced operation on <br />January 6, 2012 and will have an immediate and noticeable impact on the <br />odor created by the operation of the landfill. The project will further provide a <br />long -term renewable energy source to UNC, reducing dependence on <br />increasingly expensive fossil fuels, and reduce carbon emissions. <br />7. On October 4, 2011 the Orange County Board of County Commissioners <br />authorized staff to proceed with a "one- time" effort to clean -up illegal dump <br />sites within three - fourths of one mile of the landfill boundary, at no cost to the <br />individual property owners. <br />At the January 26, 2012 Assembly of Governments meeting, the Orange County Board <br />of Commissioners and the Town Boards discussed the extension of sewer service and <br />a community center for the Rogers Road Community. County and Town Attorneys have <br />concluded that use of Solid Waste reserves to extend sewer service to the Rogers Road <br />