Agenda - 08-01-1989 - Laserfiche WebLink

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28 located in the permanent agenda files in the Clerk's office. The report which was"-"— addressed by Mr. Thames has been received by the Planning Staff and they are in the process of trying to deal with the aspects raised in that report. CHRIS BEST, Planning Board member asked for clarification on 8.2.4c on page 125. PLANNER MARY SCEARBO stated that the application did not contain information regarding the existing traffic volumes and conditions around the site. BEST questioned whether or not the revised plans requested by NCDOT have been received. • SCEARBO stated that there were requirements for site triangle easements at the intersection of Bowden Road and also site easements within the development. She also indicated that the revised plans have not been received. That is one of the things that needs to be completed. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPEN FOR CITIZEN COMMENTS. KANI HUROW, President of the League of Women Voters of Chapel Hill/Carrboro, stated that the League has a long history of concern for the conservation of natural resources, especially protection of sources of drinking water. The League has made many public statements in support of watershed protection. The citizens of Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Orange County are fortunate that Orange County has two watersheds with the classification of WS I. These are wonderful natural resources that must be managed and protected. The University Lake Watershed Study recommends action that must be taken if our drinking water quality is to be protected. The Study rates "community" systems as more risky than septic tanks or sewer extensions and recommends against experimenting with such technology in an environmentally sensitive drinking-water watershed. The League is particularly concerned that approval of the proposed "community low-pressure pipe" wastewater system, with its risk of failure would set a precedence for use of this type of system in a watershed. The League of Women Voters of Chapel dill/Carrboro urges the Board of Commissioners to chose safe, proven technology and long-term reliability and effectiveness in any decision relating to drinking-waters watershed. She requested, on behalf of the League, that this request for a special use permit for McLennan's Farm be denied because of the risks it would pose to the drinking water for the more than 55,000 consumers in Orange County of water from University Lake. MR. DAN JEWELL, a landscape architect from Chapel Hill, spoke on behalf of Leon Todd, the developer of this project. Mr. Jewel indicated that he is the designer of most of this project with the exception of the wastewater system. He stated that the only issue with this project is the "community nitrification field". If it were not for this issue the project would have been approved over a year ago. The nature of this site forced them to go with the system in question. The suitable soils are all lumped into two large areas on the site. The State generally frowns upon multiple field locations in a project so they chose to concentrate on the larger field and use that for the septic disposal system. The design is a dual-alternating system where there are two fields which are alternately dosed and allowed to rest, •plus an additional area with at least that much again, which is called a repair area. The repair area is used as a reserve in the event that the system does develop problems. He stated that 18 months ago they presented what they felt were good arguments and information which under normal circumstances would have been sufficient to show the Board that the system is a viable one. In spite of this, OWASA and the public have indicated that they believe that these systems have high failure rates, and have too many unknowns. These unknowns are the