04.06.21 OCBOCC meeting Public Comments
Fiona Johann
Hello, I’m Fiona Johann and l’ve been an orange county resident for 20 years.
I want to start by thanking our BOCC and staff for meeting with the Mebane City Council in reference to the Buckhorn Area Plan in March. I am excited to see what kind of strategic planning will come from these two groups joining together to work on this important topic.
In regards to the Buckhorn Area Plan I want to focus a bit on Gravelly Middle School. Gravelly Middle School serves Mebane residents who also live in Orange county, which is geographically half of Mebane. Gravelly Middle school currently serves 485 6-8 graders. Those middle schooler’s are already surrounded on two sides by Medline and the highway. The Buckhorn Area Plan proposes surrounding the school and soccer fields by even more industrial builds. Every other middle school in Orange County is surrounded by residential housing, other schools and nature. What message are we sending to our middle schoolers and their parents by surrounding their school by industrial development? What will that do to their mental and physical health?
We know that children benefit from being surrounded by nature. This isn’t news to anyone, in fact in 2003 Nancy Wells an environmental psychologist and Gary Evans an environmental and developmental psychologist co-published the following findings, “In a rural setting, levels of nearby nature moderate the impact of stressful life events on the psychological well-being of children. Specifically, the impact of life stress was lower among children with high levels of nearby nature than among those with little nearby nature.” (Wells, Evans, 2003) How can we know something and have it proven by science and still decide that industrial builds near a school are the good option?
Not only am I concerned for the children’s mental health but also their physical health. The traffic on west Ten will turn to primarily 18 wheelers coming from Medline and the approved Al Neyer distribution center. Isn’t that enough risk? Do we really need to add more 18 wheelers to the area and trust that it will just “work out?” There is the risk of accidents but let us not forget the emissions that will come from these vehicles as they break, park, ideal and start in an area so close to the school. Children participate in sports on the middle school complex and soccer fields, are we really okay with putting them in a situation of breathing in even more diesel fumes while breathing heavily for extended periods of time? At least now there are a lot of trees in the area to help absorb emissions, what happens when we cut down our nature provided filters to create even more air, sound and water pollution?
You all know I have multiple problems with the Buckhorn Area plan, but today I am focusing on the children that live here. We are hurting their futures in more way than one by extending the industrial development area. They will lose nature around their school, in the area they live and also be more prone to long term mental and physical health problems if you continue to expand economic development districts into a historically rural residential and agricultural area. Let us live up to the expectations of our community and do better.
While on the topic of schools and working with Mebane I would like to mention that Mebane city has 300 new family homes in progress and are most likely to approve another 400 all on the orange county side of the city. I would like to confirm that the school board and commissioners are aware of all these new developments that will effect Cheeks Elem and Gravelly middle. Mebane City said they invited Orange County officials to these conversations but no one has attened. I wanted to make sure you all of aware of this growth that will directly affect Orange County Schools.
Wells, Nancy, and Gary Evans. “Nearby Nature: A Buffer of Life Stress among Rural Children - Nancy M. Wells, Gary W. Evans, 2003.” SAGE Journals, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0013916503035003001.