County water transfer returned for further review

A plan to allow inter-county water transfer was sent back for further review at Thursday night’s Orange County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Commissioners said the broad language in the item could allow customers outside the county access to the area’s allocated water supply.

The article in question was part of an agreement passed in 2001 outlining water transfer guidelines. Planning Director Craig Benedict and Orange Water and Sewer Authority Executive Director Ed Kerwin brought the topic to the board seeking to change the language to allow water to be transferred within Orange County.

“That clarification is to allow the transfer of water in non-emergency situations from Jordan Lake,” Benedict said.

This would allow the county to retrieve the 1 million gallons of water it is allocated in the lake.

Kerwin said two droughts in the past 10 years have made water supply an important issue.

“Water is life, and running out is simply not an option,” he said.
Commissioners were concerned about transferring this water through Chatham County and the demands Chatham officials could place.

“We are absolutely not looking to change our boundaries or serve anyone outside our area,” Kerwin said.

The board unanimously voted to refer the motion back to county staff to gather more information about the context, the language, the pros and the cons of the agreement.

The board also voted to continue re-evaluating a policy requiring affordable housing to stay affordable for 99 years.

Though County Manager Frank Clifton said 99-year policy creates financial hurdles, he hopes it won’t be eliminated.

“We don’t recommend any change,” he said. “We think it’s an opportune time to re-evaluate.”

Commissioner Alice Gordon said the original 99-year period was chosen to prevent housing prices from going up to market price when they were resold.

“Taxpayers put money into these projects on the assumption that they will be affordable for a long time,” she said.

Benedict later presented a report on 14 sites selected to house cell phone towers and a status report about the county’s communication needs.

Two private companies — American Tower Company and Grain Communications Inc. — have shown interest in building cell phone towers in Orange County. The companies would lease these sites and build towers adhering to certain guidelines, including a 150-foot height restriction.

The cell phone towers are important for the county to improve public safety, as a large portion of the county has no coverage, Benedict said.

Benedict said about 50 percent of the county is underserved while 10 to 20 percent has no service.

He said he expects some controversy as the item moves forward.

“No matter where you put it, someone will say ‘I don’t like it, it’s ugly,’” Benedict said. “They’ll say that from their cell phone text messaging.”

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