Chapel Hill Town Council weighs costs of potential waste transfer sites

The Chapel Hill Town Council voted 5-2 Monday to research the fiscal impacts of two potential sites for waste to be collected before it is shipped out of the county.

A waste transfer station is needed because the county landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2012.

The county has four options for a possible location for the transfer site: land for purchase off N.C. 54, a Town of Chapel Hill-owned site on Millhouse Road, an Orange County-owned site on Millhouse Road and the transfer station in Durham off Interstate 85.

Town staff will examine the costs of using the N.C. 54 site and of temporary use of the Durham transfer station.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said he wanted to analyze the fiscal impacts of all four sites because the town needs to consider the cost of transport and trucks.

“I think that we as a council have an obligation to the citizens to understand the fiscal impact of any of these,” Foy said, adding that the N.C. 54 option would be costly.

“We have to acknowledge that this is a decision to raise taxes,” Foy said. “We ought to at least be open about that and tell citizens how much more up front.”

Other council members did not want to consider sites off Millhouse Road because of their proximity to the county’s current landfill, which a historically black community has bordered for 37 years.

They wanted to make sure the council also considered environmental and social concerns.

“Other people tend to forget that we give great weight to these other interests, and I don’t want that to be lost,” council member Mark Kleinschmidt said.

The county is responsible for the landfill where solid waste is disposed and will ultimately decide the location of the new site.

The transfer site will compact and transport trash to other areas in North Carolina or Virginia, Foy said.

The county cannot use the Durham site or the Chapel Hill site without permission from the towns that own them.

“Durham has not made an offer, and I don’t know if they will,” Foy said.

About five residents were at the meeting to protest the Millhouse Road locations.

Robert Campbell, a resident of the Rogers Road community near Millhouse Road and the co-chairman of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism, said he was concerned that another solid waste transfer site will destroy the area’s cotton history and community.

“Not only are we connected to the land, but we are connected socially and economically,” he said. “You can’t break the bond of social engagement.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.