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Chapel Hnif Is Ist, off to v expans " ionI If of quarry, Neighbors denounce plan to enlarge operation on N, . 0 as environmental raid M" By BAY GRGNBEBG The Chapel Hill Herald CHAPEL HILL — An 84 vote made Chapel Hill's town council the first govern- ment to approve the proposed expansion of a N. C. 54 stone quarry that water planners hope to convert into a reservoir. -.." . : ; The • vote followed a 21/2-hour he . d h:- i which turned acrimonious after quarry neighbors denounced the expansion as environmental ntal racism. „ "Every time a big company needs to do ' something, they start out in a neighborhood that's mostly black, " said Louise Parrish, one "Th me, it's like we don't critic of the plan. count. We don't want a raw deal, we want a fair deal. " But expansion advocates carried the debate after touting the quarry's potential to become a reservoir large enough, by most estiinates, to meet southern Orange County's water needs for at least the coming 50 years. Supporters osaid the short-term costs — which include the annoyance of frequent blasting — aren't high enough to outweigh the benefit of acquiring a supply that might preclude the need to draw water from near- by Jordan Lake. The Jordan basin lacks stringent water- shed controls, which exposes anyone drink ing its water to an array of pollution threats of unknown extent, said Dan Okun, a retired UNC environmental science professor. The only thing certain about Jordan Lake's water quality is that "it's bad now and going to be worse in the future," he said. Monday's vote was the first of three on the proposal scheduled in the coming weeks. The American Stone Co. is seeking a change to joint land-use plans for the University Lake watershed that also requires the con- sent of Carrboro's board of aldermen and the IN It Orange County Commissioners. IN The company's application went to the governments with formal backing from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, which intends to buy the quarry property whether the plan amendment goes through. The utility's support is plainly key to American Stone's hopes, as all three govern- ments rely on OWASA to supply water to , their constituents . Critics of the plan, how ever, maintain that OWASA is using inflated projections of future water demand to justi- fy its stance. please ' see QUARRY/PAGE 2