
{"id":8340,"date":"2009-12-10T12:28:40","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T20:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=8340"},"modified":"2009-12-10T12:29:29","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T20:29:29","slug":"county-opts-to-truck-trash-to-durham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/12\/10\/county-opts-to-truck-trash-to-durham\/","title":{"rendered":"County opts to truck trash to Durham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Millhouse Road removed from consideration for future waste facility<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Taylor Sisk, Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes the best strategy is to punt,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs, and with those words he raised a motion at Monday night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting that the county ship its garbage to Durham County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transfer station for a three- to five-year period and to use that time to re-engage the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s municipalities in developing a long-term solid waste strategy.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The commissioners were tasked to vote on whether to place a transfer station on county-owned property \u00e2\u20ac\u201d called the Paydarfar site (the name of its previous owner) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d on Millhouse Road or on a previously approved site off N.C. 54 near Orange Grove Road, or to pursue a deal with Durham County to use its transfer facility.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Mike Nelson asked that an amendment be added to the motion removing Millhouse Road from future consideration as a site for a transfer station, should the board later decide to construct one in Orange County. Jacobs agreed, and the motion passed 6-1, with Commissioner Steve Yuhasz in opposition. Yuhasz said he opposed the amendment because he wanted to leave all options on the table.<\/p>\n<p>The Millhouse site has drawn opposition for a number of reasons, most prominently because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s within a half mile of the county landfill. Supporters of the Rogers-Eubanks community, which is adjacent to the landfill, say that community has endured more than enough, having lived with the ill effects of the landfill for 37 years. <\/p>\n<p>The N.C. 54 site also has met with strong opposition. Opponents have argued, among other things, that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too far from where the majority of waste is produced and too far from a major highway.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA long learning process\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><br \/>\nNew County Manager Frank Clifton spoke Monday night prior to the vote, listing the pros and mostly cons of each option.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This has been a difficult process for the county,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Clifton said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is no easy solution.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Clifton recommended the commissioners choose option \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reaching an agreement with Durham County to receive Orange County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solid waste at the Durham transfer station off East Club Boulevard, from which it will then be sent to a landfill, for three to five years. Durham has given verbal assurance that the facility can be made available.<\/p>\n<p>The public was then given the opportunity to speak. Several speakers thanked Clifton for what they deemed a fair and thorough assessment of the options. Orange County Voice president Bonnie Hauser, who has spoken on a number of occasions in favor of alternatives to a transfer station, said she felt confident moving forward with Clifton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Several speakers asked that Millhouse Road be removed from consideration. When Rogers-Eubanks community leader Robert Campbell spoke, a majority of those in attendance stood in support.<br \/>\nCommissioners chair Valerie Foushee then thanked all those who provided input throughout a search process that began two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Jacobs spoke next, saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have all gone through a long learning process \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we have all gone through a long listening process.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Referring to a process that involved a private consultant and cost, at last count, $490,584, Jacobs said the commission should not be held to that process \u00e2\u20ac\u0153when it yields results we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t defend,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that in cooperation with the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s municipalities the commission should show \u00e2\u20ac\u0153creative leadership\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in developing a long-term solution.<\/p>\n<p>The motion to truck Orange County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s waste to Durham, at least in the short term, then was put to a vote. The announcement that it had passed was received with a standing ovation.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier offered an amendment, seconded by Nelson, that consideration of a new Orange County landfill be kept on the table. Pelissier and Nelson voiced their concerns about shipping the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s waste to another community. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we are concerned about trash in our own backyard,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pelissier said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we must be concerned about where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sending it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Nelson said it is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not consistent with our values\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to ship our waste to another, likely poorer, community.<br \/>\nThe amendment failed by a 4-3 vote.<\/p>\n<p><strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA great victory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It feels great to know that for the past two years, with collaboration and partnering with other organizations and dialog with the Orange County commissioners, the Chapel Hill Town Council and the Carrboro aldermen, a reasonable decision was made,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Campbell said after the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A great victory for the people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Mark Dorosin, senior managing attorney at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, which has been working with the Rogers-Eubanks community on this and other issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This restores my faith that hard work can pay off,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said David Caldwell, a community activist and descendent of a family that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lived in the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood for generations. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That 6-1 sounded so good.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Campbell said the decision to reach an agreement with Durham would give all parties involved time to mutually pursue a solution that would look into new technologies and that would be socially just and environmentally sound.<\/p>\n<p>In other business at Monday night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting, Foushee was re-elected commission chair and Pelissier was elected vice chair, both by a unanimous vote.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Millhouse Road removed from consideration for future waste facility By Taylor Sisk, Staff Writer \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes the best strategy is to punt,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs, and with those words he raised a motion at Monday night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting that the county ship its garbage to Durham County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transfer station for a three- to five-year&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[398,399,283],"class_list":["post-8340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-millhouse-road","tag-roger-road","tag-waste-transfer-station"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8342,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8340\/revisions\/8342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}