Proposed Orange Grove Waste Management Center

[Thomas Gambill]

I am a native North Carolinian and have lived in Orange County since 1970.  I have lived in the Collins Creek neighborhood since 1999.  We deliberately chose our current location because of its secluded and rural character, as have my neighbors.

I have watched the Hillsborough/Chapel Hill/Carrboro area’s transformation from a rural, beautiful region to one increasingly populated by mini-cities of Stalinesque architechture.  I have watched swaths of trees and the homes of native wildlife cleared for businesses and homes and roads.  I realize the area is growing rapidly and I understand that change is inevitable.  But there are times when growth must be restrained, and we should be very careful about intrusions into those areas that are still rural, including the natural wetlands that feed our water supplies.  We should be respectful of those who have chosen to live in the more rural areas, and who have invested considerable effort and fortune to create homes in this type of environment.

From what I understand about the proposed new waste management center, neither the need for one nor the proposed location make any sense to me and I wish to state my strong opposition.  I’m very proud of the efforts Orange County puts into recycling and waste management, and I utilize one of the waste management centers on average every 7-10 days.  I have never seen them particularly crowded nor the staff particularly stressed, and since I usually plan my visits to these centers around other errands the locations are neither inconvenient nor particularly distant.  

The proposed center will dramatically and negatively impact the Orange Grove Road/Highway 54 area.  I’m quite sure you aready understand the traffic, noise, and pollution that such a large center would bring.  Aside from destroying wildlife habitat and impacting wetlands, it will crater property values in the vicinity.  There is a range of properties and developments that would be negatively impacted, from nearly million dollar homes to a small mobile home park.

I plan to attend at least one of the public meetings and hope to learn more about the (perceived) need for this center and the choice of location.  I hope to better understand the flawed logic that is driving this proposal.  And I plan to publicly register my strong opposition.

Thank you for your attention.

Thomas Gambill

t...@mcalesterhome.com

“The longer I live, the more convinced I am that this planet is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.”  George Bernard Shaw

[Todd McGee]

Thomas,

 

Thanks for your email. The Solid Waste Department encourages you to attend one of the public meetings to learn more about the project. More details on the need to relocate away from the Ferguson Road and Bradshaw Quarry Road locations will be provided at the Aug. 25^th and 29^th meetings, which will take place at the American Legion located at 3700 HWY54 Chapel Hill.

 

Todd McGee

Orange County Community Relations Director

(919) 245-2302 (office)

(984) 220-5412 (cell)