In a middle school cafeteria Monday night residents concerned about Orange County's new waste transfer station outnumbered commissioners about 50 to one.
And for more than two hours they voiced their concerns about the three potential sites for the transfer station.
Some addressed the fairness of the process" the possibility of alternative waste management solutions and the proposed station's impact on its host community.
Others said the station should be located in an industrial area.
""Just as no one would place a toilet in a living room" placing a waste transfer station in a residential area is inconceivable" Hillsborough resident Tatiana Zybin said.
The five current and two future commissioners present did not respond to comments from roughly 50 of the more than 250 residents at Monday's public information session at McDougle Middle School in Carrboro.
A few board members took notes. Others leaned back in their chairs and crossed their legs.
The board reopened the search for a waste transfer station site last November after residents of the Rogers-Eubanks community protested original plans. The station will be used as a daily collection point for the county's garbage before it is shipped to an out-of-county landfill.
Last month, commissioners narrowed the list of potential sites to three, all within a mile of each other just west of Orange Grove Road on N.C. 54.
Strong applause followed many attendees' requests that the board delay site selection for at least 90 days and investigate other sites.
Board Chairman Barry Jacobs said the tentative deadline for a decision is Dec. 11, nearly a month after the original date.
Many reiterated the concern that commissioners are ignoring more sustainable solutions for disposing of solid waste besides shipping it to a landfill.
Commissioners received a report in September from a waste management consultant that concluded the county does not generate enough waste to consider options like generating energy by burning garbage.
Residents of Bingham, a township just north of the three sites, said rural Orange County has been unfairly targeted for public facilities.
The Cane Creek Reservoir, located about 2 miles west of the proposed transfer sites, supplies water to Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority also uses land in the area as part of its biosolids management program, which residents describe as spreading sludge"" in open fields.
Resident Connor Blakeney said he thought that two potential transfer sites in Hillsborough were removed from consideration because of undue preference to the county's towns.
""The pure volume and number of Hillsborough's objections do not make them right"" he said. Only louder.""
Bingham residents said they were concerned a transfer station would jeopardize the rural character of the township and compromise resident safety on the area's small roads.
""One can only hope that an OWASA sludge truck would not collide with a waste truck"" resident Myra Dodson said. Now that would be an embarrassing mess.""
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Residents object to waste site options
Lynne Jaffe examines maps for proposed Carrboro waste transfer sites.Hundreds attended the public meeting to review the proposed sites.
