Minutes - 20081118 - Transfer Station

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5. Public Comment Period Gayanne Chambless said that the site selection has brought communities together and the citizens have learned much. There is agreement that there have been inherent flaws in this process and technology has advanced. She said that there are short-term options such as mandatory recycling at UNC and UNC Hospitals. She said that she hopes that the Board of County Commissioners will pursue long-term options for the County and will be progressive. She asked the County Commissioners to investigate the new technology and to also review the amount of acreage that is truly needed. She asked the County Commissioners to also look at a waste transfer site parallel to a waste to energy site. Margaret Misch stressed her feeling about the difference between short-sightedness and long-sightedness. She said that this station may be a short-term option and that the County should be taking care of its own waste rather than shipping it off to another County or another state. She said that if the County Commissioners are going to choose a site on NC 54, then she is also opposed to having another airport in Orange County. Bonnie Hauser reminded the Board of some of the issues that were raised at the public comment meeting last night. One issue was the contamination and runoff into wetlands from the transfer station. Also, there is no water and sewer in Bingham Township. She said that, no matter how big the site is, there will not be a buffer of traffic, noise, and safety issues that will come from the transfer station. Regarding the issue of transferring to Durham, there would not be more than a 90-day issue if the County Commissioners took 90 more days to study this. She added that the timeline could be shortened depending on the siting. She suggested offering this project out for a competitive bid and getting some other timelines. Regarding waste to energy, based on Olver's website, waste to energy is not part of their practice area, and she has spoken to many experts who have offered to come in and talk to the County Commissioners and the community about waste to energy and the options. She said that many citizens are asking when rural Orange County became the waste site for the municipalities. Richard Taylor said that little effort has been made to talk about where the waste would go when it left Orange County and he suggested using rail instead of trucks. Yonnie Chapman lives in Chapel Hill and he has worked with the Rogers Road community regarding environmental racism. He said that he sympathizes with all of the Orange County neighbors who are concerned about this issue and the impact on their own community. He said that he also sympathizes with the Board of County Commissioners on this tough issue. He said that he feels a crush in terms of time and a tendency to look for a way out as the landfill fills up. The path of least resistance has always led to Rogers Road and he hopes that it does not this time. He said that no community should put up with what the Rogers Road community has had to put up with and it would be a social injustice if this fell back on the Rogers Road community. John McQuire lives in Bingham Township and said that he wanted to remind the Board of County Commissioners that there are alternatives to a waste transfer station and it is more important to drive toward the right decision rather than a quick decision. 6. BOCC Direction and Feedback to County Management and Consultant Chair Jacobs said that the Board had the GBB study done last winter and it was presented with the written report. He would like Olver, Inc. to come to the December 1St meeting and make a presentation of this for the sake of the new County Commissioners. The ultimate recommendation was that the County was on the best course. He suggested doing this in a public venue as opposed to just posting the document on the website. The Solid Waste Advisory Board helped to determine the parameters of this study and it was very comprehensive.