Rogers Road Task Force may be disbanded

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Lee Storrow a member of the Rogers Road Task Force. The article has been changed to reflect this.

After a year of hard work and heated discussions, the Historic Rogers Road Neighborhood Task Force might be put away for good.

During the Dec. 6 Orange County Assembly of Governments meeting, some officials supported ending the task force.

But others aren’t letting it go down without a fight.

Molly DeMarco, a research fellow at UNC, cowrote a petition with Chapel Hill Councilman Lee Storrow and Carrboro Alderwoman Michelle Johnson to keep the task force going.

“Some members thought that their duty was done and that they didn’t need it while others thought we should keep it for other issues,” DeMarco said.

For the last 40 years, the Rogers Road community has housed the county’s landfill in the hopes of getting sewer hook ups and a community center.

After a series of extensions, the landfill is scheduled to close in June.

With the closing date approaching, many local officials want to make good on the promises they made decades ago, so the task force was created to investigate how to provide sewer hookups and a community center to the neighborhood.

DeMarco said the community still needs the task force’s help.

“The task force has been a good mechanism to engage the community and give them representation with elected officials,” DeMarco said.

“Without the task force, all of that would be lost.”

The petition has already received 57 signatures on Sunday night — exceeding Storrow’s goal of 50.

DeMarco said they will accept signatures until Jan. 17 and discuss the petition at the Jan. 24 Orange County Board of Commissioners meeting.

The petition asks to continue the task force for an additional six months so members can complete their work on the community center and sewer service.

“We are pretty close to getting the plans for the community center finalized,” Storrow said.

David Caldwell, a long-time resident of Rogers Road, said that is all the community is asking for.

“We just want some of the basic amenities that we were promised years ago,” he said.

Storrow said the community center could begin construction as soon as next year.

“We have identified the location,” Storrow said. “There are still some legal concerns to be figured out.”

He said plans and funding for sewer hookups are still tentative — another reason to keep the task force going.

Sammy Slade, a Carrboro alderman and member of the task force, said the task force must have more conversations about the sewer service and how to fund it.

He wants to make sure the community is treated fairly by local governments.

“We are making sure that the people who carry our burden are at least compensated and recognized for the cost we have put on them,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.