Minutes - 20080519 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Rev. Robert Campbell said that the members of the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association and the Coalition to End Environmental Racism would like to bring attention to a paper written by Allen Bernard of the Cedar Grove Institution of Sustainable Communities on racial segregation in residential neighborhoods. Racial residential segregation remains a fact of life in the south as well as in the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood. Political exclusion, which it is labeled, occurs when Afro-American neighborhoods are kept just outside of a town's boundaries, resulting in a low level of service, reduced access to infrastructure, and limited or no political voice in land use and committee decisions. He said that they are requesting that their recommendation from the Rogers Road Enhancement Task Force be included in the Orange County Comprehensive Plan, and that the plan include specific recommendations and actions to: 1. End the 35-year burden of solid waste facilities in the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood and the Rogers Road historic area; 2. Provide public funding for provision of safe drinking water and sewer service to all households in the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood and the Rogers Road historic area; 3. Provide funding for other basic municipal service to residents of the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood and Rogers Road historic area, including, but not limited to paved roads, paved sidewalks, storm drains, street lights, public bus service (including covered bus stops), and emergency protection service (such as fire, police protection, ambulatory, and rescue squad). He said that in looking at the Comprehensive Plan and the inter-territorial jurisdiction plan, the plan that was implemented in the 1800's specifically has a boundary between the neighborhoods. He said that this plan excluded water from coming into the historic area. He encouraged the County Commissioners to look at these papers. Fred Black chairs the Community Action Network and also participates with the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition. He said that this has been an amazing process but also a very difficult process. He said that since the second draft on May 2nd, it has been hard work to delve into it. One of the goals has been to help the coalition educate itself so that it could educate the community and encourage them to participate in this process. He has concerns that enough time has not been built into the schedule to allow the thorough review, study, and evaluation that a plan of this magnitude requires. He asked the Board to consider how else to receive input from people who are going to be hard pressed in the summer to pay attention to this plan. Ruby Sinreich said that she is still trying to learn about the plan. She agrees with all of the other comments before her. She has two main concerns. One is about intergovernmental cooperation. She does not see any evidence of this in the creation of the plan. She was the Chair of the Chapel Hill Planning Board until about a year ago, and she did not even know about this plan. She said that if the plan proposes doing intergovernmental cooperation, it needs to model that in the creation of the plan. In addition, planning in a vacuum is not useful when the borders are obviously contiguous. Her other concern is land use. She said that we have to envision a future where gas is not cheap. She is very concerned when she sees disconnected areas of development such as the economic development districts. This is not how communities grow and it does not reinforce the support of land use. She is concerned that the EDDs will encourage more sprawl. She would like to see how transportation and other infrastructure will support economic development districts and wherever there will be growth and activity. Robbin Taylor-Hall read an email from the Simpson Efland Heirs: