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NEMOxANDUM <br /> TO: Mayor and Town Council <br /> FROM: W. Calvin Norton, Town Manager <br /> SUBJECT: Landfill Matters <br /> DATE: October 22, 1997 <br /> This report describes the status of our landfill site search and solid waste management <br /> reorganization efforts and presents options for the Council's next steps. <br /> Background <br /> The search for a new landfill site began in 1990 with a committee of 13 citizens <br /> representing all parts of the county: The eonunittee and,its consulting engineers reviewed <br /> the entire county and identified potential sites The committee then developed criteria and <br /> standards with which to evaluate each site. The process has resulted its the governing <br /> bodies of Chapel Mli, Hillsborough and.Orange County identifying Site 917 as the <br /> preferred landfill site among those identified and evaluated by the citizens Landfill Site <br /> Search Committee. <br /> ..About a dozen tracts makeup Site#17,the largest of which is owned by Duke University. <br /> Please see the attached map_ <br /> Duke University is among the several landowners that have informed us that they did not <br /> want the public to acquire their land for use as a landfill. In 1995, Duke granted an <br /> easement to the Department of Energy that covered 93 acres, and let us know a week <br /> later. We immediately confirmed with our consulting engineers that a laadir-ill could be <br /> sited on Site 417 without using those 93 acres. Duke University later granted another <br /> easement to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over all of its land in Site <br /> #17. Although this easement was apparently granted in June 1996, Duke did not inform <br /> us until we notified them of our plans to conduct subsurface tests this fall on Duke land. <br /> This easement is important because local governments do not have the power of eminent <br /> domain over the federal government. While it may be possible to gain access to Duke <br /> Lind for test borings, it is highly unlikely that NASA would find that a landfill would be <br /> consistent with the federal easement. Even though the easement is for only a five-year <br />