Orange County Commissioners talked water at a Monday night meeting.
After David Weekley Homes applied for a special-use permit for a 26-lot residential development, nearby residents were concerned with the well system currently in place.
The residential development would be located on 68.5 acres near the intersection of Mt. Sinai Road and N.C. Hwy. 86.
Durham resident Mary Jo Fyfe said she owns three acres of land that back up into the proposed development and has a well on her property.
“My concern is that since we’ve, in the past, had a great deal of problems with this well going dry,” she said.
Chapel Hill resident Diana Walstad said her well recently went dry, and she couldn’t even take a shower. She thinks other residents in the area were abusing water resources.
“These rich people were using the water and pumping it out to cool their house,” she said. “Pump and dump is just a terrible waste of water.”
Jeff Akin, division president at David Weekley Homes, assured her that this “pump and dump” type of system would not be used for the development
“We would restrict pump and dump systems on this site,” he said.
Notable:
Commissioners also discussed 12 acres of property Darrell Chandler, of Rougemont, wants to use to build eight storage units near Mile Branch Road.
Commissioners were mostly concerned about the lack of access to water on the property.
“It is a concern to me that there will not be accessible water…and restroom facilities on the property,” said Commissioner Earl McKee.
Commissioner Pam Hemminger said the need for a well is not just for the use in bathroom facilities, but also for maintaining the aesthetics and the safety.
Despite concerns, the commissioners made it clear they want this project to be completed.
“It is in my mind the type of business we want to attract to these areas,” Mckee said.
Quotable:
“We have done systems like this before that we’ve never had problems with,” said Akin, about septic systems planned for the residential development.
“We need to know that people like myself…are protected from people that just come in and pump and dump water,” Walstad said.
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