Minutes 01-27-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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18 the roads for miles around the landfill. he would say they have taken a step backwards in terms of environmental justice. They should not be hide-bound by the much longer term considerations when they talk about a transfer station, because the transfer station is a necessary step no matter what else they do. Bonnie Hammersley said on the next Monday night, staff will be updating the Solid Waste Advisory Group on the transfer station process. The Board approved $100,000 in the Capital Improvement Investment Plan for collaborative planning. She said they have met with Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, and are inviting Durham (because there will be an impact to Durham if we decide to build a transfer station) and UNC to the next meeting. They have had the same conversation about not letting something else detour the process, but everybody around the table agreed they need a longer range plan that includes what they are going to do next because otherwise they will be shipping their waste away without knowing what is happening to it. The conversation today is helpful because it informs her as to what the Board needs. Commissioner Jacobs said he believed the Board had adopted the recommendation of the Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Task Force into policy, and if that is so then, as Commissioner Marcoplos had done, the Board should visit the communities where Durham is shipping Orange County's waste. Commissioner Jacobs suggested the Board refresh itself on the County's land use plan in order to have the understanding it needs to make strategic investments in high-value infrastructure. He said they have not looked at it in years. They assume staff is taking care of it in accordance with what they have done. Land use planning is to an extent a guarantee to home owners: they are making the biggest investment in their life, and getting some level of assurance from local government that they know the kind of neighborhood they are living in. There is an element of fairness or justice to the people who are relying on them, to make sure they are taking their expectations into consideration when land use changes are being considered. Chair Dorosin noted that the infrastructure presentation before lunch was focused internally on the County government. The anticipated forces of change are also relevant to non- government actors. How can they serve as a model to help others be more sustainable. Commissioner Rich agreed. She said they have talked about this at the most recent Triangle J COG meeting. They learned that some companies within the RTP are cutting back on telecommuting, for example. They might want to tap into the communications the COG is preparing to have with some of the larger companies within RTP, perhaps doing the same kind of communicating externally here. They do try to pass along what they know about green building to the residents of Orange County. Chapel Hill had a grant to help lower-income residents weatherize their homes; they could look into things like that. Chair Dorosin said it would be helpful to anticipate the infrastructure needs associated with the new Hillsborough growth and with growth near the County's economic development nodes, and to be ready to show "the next Morinaga" how they do resilience in Orange County, so they also can apply sustainable practices. Commissioner Rich said that Apex is encouraging people who are building new homes to prepare for adding solar panels, because it is easier to wire the homes for solar when they are being built rather than retroactively. That would be really good for Hillsborough, since they are adding thousands of homes. Commissioner Burroughs added that sustainability considerations also could be added to the housing that the County is promoting through the bond. Commissioner Jacobs recalled a retreat at which the purpose was to improve communications to the public about what the County does. They offered domestic partner benefits to our employees before the Towns, for example, and that never gets reported. They did living wage increases before the Towns. Orange County is only one of two counties in the