By Kirk Ross, Staff Writer
Plans for expansion are on the grow at the university’s Bingham Facility, a 57-acre research site near N.C. 54 in western Orange County.
University officials announced last year that the facility would be home to a new $14.5 million project to be funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, but since then the list of proposed new infrastructure and animal research labs has grown, and the university now says it will move the Carrboro-based Frances Owen Blood Research Laboratory out to Bingham as well.
Late last month, university officials briefed county officials and neighbors of the Bingham Facility on the latest plans. UNC and the site’s neighbors opened a dialogue after state officials cited and fined the university for repeated wastewater spills. Residents near the facility complained that the university hasn’t been forthcoming enough with its plans for the area.
Bob Lowman, UNC’s associate vice chancellor for research, who was appointed by Chancellor Holden Thorp to lead the Bingham Facility project, told the neighbors that the university wants to provide more transparency regarding the expansion.
Under the plans, the wastewater treatment system for the facility, which was shut down by UNC earlier this year, also will be revamped with a much more expanded spray irrigation field.
While Lowman did not specify the cost of the expansion, neighbors who have been in conversation with university officials say the total could range around $55 million.
Laura Streitfeld, an organizer and board chair with Preserve Rural Orange, said the expansion has many neighbors worried, in part because they don’t know the extent of any damage possibly caused by previous problems at the facility.
Streitfeld said that while neighbors are applauding the move by the university to be more transparent, they’d like to see a more public process for reviewing what happens at the site. Considering the recent problems at the site, Streitfeld said, additional testing and monitoring should be done and if damage is found near Collin Creek or other areas, the university should do the necessary remediation and provide compensation to landowners who have been affected.