(Social justice should factor heavily as commissioners narrow waste-transfer site possibilities to three)
When the Orange County Commissioners narrow the potential locations for the new waste-transfer site site 779 — 1 mile west of Orange Grove on N.C. 54 — should be considered for the final round of decisions.
Obviously no one wants a waste-transfer site in their backyard but Orange County is growing and the current landfill is almost full despite high levels of recycling in the County.
Site 669 in the Rogers-Eubanks community should be abandoned as a potential location. This community has shouldered the burden of hosting our landfill for more than 35 years. It's time for another location.
After more than a year of discussions and public input two studies have been completed. One focuses purely on the technical aspect of a potential site and another includes community-specific criteria such as environmental justice and proximity to schools and churches.
Site 779 ranked third on the technical study and second on the community-specific study.
In the technical study only sites 857 and 573 which are adjacent and near Interstate 40 were ranked higher — mainly because of their central location to transportation routes.
But these sites are located within one of Hillsborough's Economic Development Districts. If either of these locations were chosen attracting business to the surrounding areas would be difficult and Hillsborough and Orange County would lose tax revenue.
On the community-specific study several locations scored similarly to that of site 779. The top four sites including site 779 are located on the two-lane N.C. 54 which is problematic because of the traffic the new waste-transfer site would create.
But site 779 scored particularly low on its adverse impact on air quality and impact on historical or cultural features.
While we wish that a waste-transfer site wasn't needed after reviewing the data it appears that site 779 serves the needs of both the community and the waste-transfer operation best.
