By Kirk Ross and Taylor Sisk
Staff Writers

The Orange County board of commissioners voted 4-3 Tuesday night to draw its attempt to find a site for a waste transfer station to a close, setting a timetable of 60 to 90 days for reaching a decision.

The board approved a plan to continue to investigate four options, including three potential sites for a waste transfer station and a possible deal with Durham County to use its waste transfer facility. Commissioners also asked to see the costs and parameters of the interlocal waste agreement between the county and its municipalities.

The vote came on the heels of discussion of a new site on Millhouse Road on county-owned property. The new county-owned site is nearly across the street from the Town of Chapel Hill’s public-works facility, where there is land that Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy has proposed as a possible site.
The inclusion of the new Millhouse parcel was met with opposition from nearby residents along Rogers and Eubanks road who have also objected to the town site on Millhouse on the grounds that their community has hosted the county’s waste facility long enough.

Under the plan agreed to Tuesday night, county officials will contact Chapel Hill officials to seek details on the town-owned property. The Chapel Hill Town Council has not formally weighed in on Foy’s offer to explore the site.

Residents of Bingham township continued to press their case Tuesday night that a site off N.C. 54 near Orange Grove Road would be costly, far away from the geographic center of waste generation and environmentally unsuitable.

Board chair Valarie Foushee and commissioners Alice Gordon and Mike Nelson voted against the plan to choose from among all four options, with commissioners Steve Yuhasz, Pam Hemminger, Bernadette Pelissier and Barry Jacobs voting to support the plan. In June, Foushee, Gordon and Nelson voted against a proposal to ask the Town of Chapel Hill to formally offer the property it owns on Millhouse Road in order for it to be considered as an option.

The commissioners also approved working with Durham County as an alternative to constructing a facility.

Nelson said he believes the process has failed.
“The board has made statement after statement, and no deadline has been adhered to.”

“New sites are coming out of nowhere,” he added. “I don’t believe there is a process anymore. I think the board has lost credibility.”