Agenda - 05-21-2007-c2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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NC Highway 57 Speedway Area Small Area Plan contributed to well issues for existing residents and property owners' for sometime now. Some Study Area residents have suggested that the discoloration in their well water may be attributable to the stone quarry operation and that blasting activities have created problems for their wells, some over 30 years old. The lack of reliable, consistent potable water supplies and poor soil conditions for septic drain fields limit development opportunities within the Study Area. Goal 3: Future development proposals should not adversely impact existing groundwater supplies. Objective 3 -1. The County Health Department, in close coordination with the County Planning and Inspections Department, shall educate all residents living within the 3,000 - foot Hanson Aggregate stone quarry impact area regarding well testing services to evaluate well water problems through a systematic study and assessment. Policy. The BOCC should identify the Study Area as a high priority for an Environmental Assessment of well water samples and surveys through the County Health Department, specifically focusing on: groundwater sustainability, aquifer flow testing, well contamination, and well capacity. Known geophysical conditions associated with a deep bedrock quarry, nearly one -third of private wells in operation prior to quarry operations, are the risk factors justifying such a study and assessment. Objective 3 -2. The County should include language within the Orange County Land Use Element update requiring all non - residential development projects and major residential subdivisions within the Study Area to complete comprehensive environmental assessment of the groundwater resources to determine the magnitude of future use and sustainable, on -site aquifer yields that does not compromise wells on adjacent properties, as part of their review and approval process. Policy. The County shall revise existing land use regulations and development review procedures and include provisions requiring the review of anticipated groundwater usage for all proposed development projects and that this study shall be a major consideration to determine the appropriateness of any proposed land use, or for permit approval of improvements to land existing uses, within the Study Area. Policy. The County should revise existing standards governing the review and approval of quarry operations to require as a condition of approval that quarry developers /operators, in close coordination with the Orange County Environmental Health Division, establish well monitoring programs to monitor the viability of all private wells within 3,000 feet of the active quarry operations within the Study Area and that the quarry operators shall be required to remedy, at their expense, any problem directly attributed to the quarry operation. Policy. The BOCC should require formal notification to the NCDENR identifying all existing mining operations, or those uses that require air quality permits, within the Study Area and inform them that mining permit approvals, renewals, or modifications, shall require County zoning approval prior to permit review at the State level. 27