Minutes - 20080916 - Transfer Station

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1 He thinks that once the community-specific criteria are applied, it will be clear that the ranking 2 will change. He does not propose taking all ten to the community for consideration. He would 3 propose only taking three or four sites to the community. 4 Chair Jacobs said that there is another Transfer Station Siting Committee meeting on 5 October 21st. So even though it will delay the overall process by five weeks, the way he 6 understood the process was that the community-specific criteria would be applied by the 7 consultants, and this would come back to the County Commissioners and they would decide 8 where the cutoff point is before going back to the public. He wants to take ownership from now 9 on and be clear that nothing leaves the room until the County Commissioners feel comfortable. 10 Lewis Watts said that what they know now is that all of the sites are "technically" suitable. 11 Chair Jacobs said that the Board could have both sets of scores and decide how to regard 12 those. Commissioner Carey agreed. 13 Chair Jacobs summarized what he has heard from the County Commissioners: To have 14 the consultants apply the community-specific criteria; have the results listed side-by-side with 15 the total points from the technical and exclusionary criteria for the ten sites; have this come back 16 to the Board on October 21St; and decide where the cutoff point is before it goes back out to the 17 community for further comment. 18 Commissioner Nelson said that this is fine with him, but he would like input from the 19 consultant regarding a reasonable cutoff point so that the decision is based on evidence and 20 input from experts. The Board agreed. 21 A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Nelson that: 22 1) The Consultant apply the community-specific criteria to all ten sites; 23 2) That this be reported side-by-side with the application of the total points for the 24 technical criteria; 25 3) That the Board of County Commissioners would decide the number of sites, which 26 would go forward to the public for comment and consideration; 27 4) That the Consultant would make a recommendation as to a cutoff point that makes 28 sense based on the entire process; 29 5) And that this meeting would be held on October 21, 2008 at the Southern Human 30 Services Center at 5:30 p.m. 31 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 32 3.Receive Public Comment on Sites Recommended for Preliminary Community- 33 Specific Criteria Evaluation and the Proposal for Obtaining Initial Public Input 34 35 PUBLIC COMMENT: 36 Rev. Robert Campbell said that he wants to apply the community-specific criteria. He also 37 invited the County Commissioners to an Orange County Organizing Committee assembly at St. 38 Thomas Moore on October 29th for community input. 39 Rev. Richard Edens is one of the pastors at United Church of Chapel Hill and is also a 40 member of the Orange County Organizing Committee. He asked those connected with OCOC 41 to stand. He said that 45 years ago, Martin Luther King spoke his "I have a dream" speech at 42 the Lincoln Memorial about arriving in Washington with an uncashed check; a promissory note. 43 He said that the OCOC joins neighbors at Eubanks and Rogers Road in coming to the County 44 Commissioners with an uncashed check, that they would not bear being a neighbor to a landfill 45 into eternity or alone. He said that they are heartened to see that the selection criteria includes 46 environmental justice considerations, but they were disappointed to see that the Eubanks site 47 remains on the list of possible sites. He said that the people of Rogers and Eubanks Road were 48 promised explicitly or implicitly that they would not be impacted disproportionately forever. He 49 said that this organizing committee is still forming and is composed of 27 congregations, 50 institutions, and associations. He applauded the County Commissioners for their work thus far. 51 He asked them to site the transfer station elsewhere.