Agenda - 06-07-2016 - 5-a - Minutes

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2 1 We understand that the Town of Carrboro is cooperating with Google Fiber [now Alphabet 2 Corporation] to provide high-speed Internet connections to the Town, and parts of Chapel Hill 3 and Orange County. Google required that the site for a small building for its hub with its 4 computers and 120,000 BTU of air conditioners to keep it cool be on Town land. Work has 5 begun on the chosen site, a small parcel of Town land connected to the Westwood Cemetery 6 on Fidelity St. A number of trees have been cut down to make room for the building, which 7 adheres closely enough to the custom-written relevant ordinance—less than 15 feet high and 8 less than 500 square feet total—that it doesn't require a public hearing. 9 10 While this plan, in the process of being implemented, puts the area on the path to high-speed 11 connectivity, we think that other sites should be considered before work goes on. We would 12 like the construction to pause briefly while Google and the Town of Carrboro consider putting 13 this hub on another site. For instance, the OWASA property is very close by and it offers 14 greater security: there is a wrought-iron fence around OWASA facilities, three fire hydrants in 15 close proximity, back-up power, professional noise abatement, and a 24/7 staff of engineers. 16 The OWASA Board has indicated that its campus might be an appropriate place for the relay 17 facility—preliminary idea, worth following up. 18 19 If Google takes over the site next to the cemetery, that locks up one of the last open spaces in 20 Carrboro and puts noisy machines next to the meadow adjoining the cemetery. We think that 21 may be a prime site for a municipal park and would hate to see that potential lost. This 22 meadow is one of the few potential parks south of Main Street. Rushing construction without 23 the usual public hearings would perhaps give Google an edge over its competitors, but would 24 definitely have a negative impact on the town's environment. 25 26 Judith Ferster for the Executive Committee, Orange/Chatham Sierra Club Group 27 919-929-6648 jferster @ncsu.edu 28 29 Bob Proctor read the following comments: 30 31 Carrboro's siting of Google's facility on Carrboro cemetery land, which is on Carrboro's 32 densest block, was rushed and artificially constrained by Google for business reasons. 33 This led to an opaque process and then to a lousy siting decision, from the perspective of 34 the county. 35 36 I am not here to raise nimby issues or to complain about the Town's faulty processes. Those 37 are tiny matters when compared to three major issues: When I covered these three last week 38 before OWASA, it seemed that their board members agreed on each of them. Google insists 39 on speeding siting to dominate its chosen markets ... some areas can't feasibly be wired twice 40 ... Google wants to get the jump on AT&T. 41 42 The first major county issue is that the OWASA site is far more secure. We are becoming more 43 dependent upon the internet ... say for health monitoring. Our proposed OWASA alternative 44 site is in the center of OWASA's 24/7 manned campus, next to their employee's parking, inside 45 fences. There are three fire hydrants there. 46 47 Secondly, putting Google on the cemetery land will spoil future flexibility for transitioning that 48 space to a park: Due to a ridge, it would be easy to screen off the meadow for quiet activities 49 away from the graves. The construction underway is exactly where you'd want to put a parking 50 lot for an urban park; otherwise the large stately pines on the grass would have to go.