Rogers Road
The Chapel Hill Town Council was to continue its discussion this evening about how to fund the extension of sewer service to the Historic Rogers Road Neighborhood, in its first meeting of the 2014-2015 session. However, town staff is again recommending a continuation of the public hearing.
On February 10, 2014 the Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously to pay their share of the preliminary engineering and surveying necessary to extend sewer to the historic Rogers Road Community (this would include 86 home lots). These activities are required for the extension of sewer regardless of whether the Chapel Hill Town Council moves forward with a utility district or ETJ. In addition to funding for this preliminary engineering work, the CHTC voted in favor of including funding for community outreach efforts to assist community members in learning about the preliminary engineering work and what it means to go forward with sewer hook-ups (see agenda item with link to staff memo here).
The Historic Rogers Road Neighborhood Task Force continues its work but has a
new barrier to contend with that may preclude the Orange County Board of
Commissioners from taking action. As reported in this story
by Chapelboro, an EPA complaint filed by the Rogers-Eubanks
Neighborhood Association in 2007 alleges the Orange County Planning and
Inspections Department (OCPID) "intentionally discriminated on the basis
of race by denying water and sewer service to the African American
residents of the Rogers Road Community." The full letter from the EPA to
the OCPID can be read here.
At
the recent task force meeting held on July 17, 2013, Board of Commissioners representatives Renee Price and Penny Rich abstained from several votes on recommendations of what
to include in the task force's final report, citing the EPA complaint.
At their meetings last night, both the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and Orange County Board of Commissioners considered resolutions concerning the Rogers Road Task Force. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution expressing their support for full sewer service for all of the Rogers Road neighborhood. By contrast, the Board of County Commissioners rejected a separate resolution put forward by Commissioner Mark Dorosin that would have expressed the BOCC's intent to participate in the provision of sewer improvements. Only Dorosin and Commissioner Barry Jacobs voted in favor of the resolution.
A full complement of Task Force members was in attendance at today's meeting of the Historic Rogers Road Task Force. The Task Force is nearing it's end and as Alderperson Michelle Johnson notes in her recent post, there is a lot on the line. Most task force members came to the meeting expecting to talk about two options: annexation of the Eubanks-Rogers Road Neighborhood or development of an Extra-territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). Instead, Orange County Assistant Manager Michael Talbert proposed a third alternative that I'll call the Hybrid 77% Plan (but some at the meeting jokingly called the Talbert Plan).
“The story of Rogers Road is not a new one. It is one that has been played and replayed throughout the state of North Carolina and across the country, involving different people and places. It is a story of local politics and community organizing, land-use decisions and their consequences, of the impact each of our actions has had on others whom we have never met and may never seek to find.”
-Emily Eidenier Pearce
As most know by now the folks living in the Rogers Road Community have been advocating for both the landfill to close for forty years and they have asked for specific issue to be resolved including providing water and sewer to remediate some of the impacts that the landfill has had on their community. You might also know that the landfill will close at the end of this month. And while the landfill closure has been a long time coming, the folks of Rogers Road's request for water and sewer has remained unmet. We have had work groups, task forces, and meetings with residents and the Rogers Road Neighborhood Association, and still the challenge of how to provide water and sewer remains.
On February 21st, 2012 the Board of County Commissioners agreed to create another task force, the Rogers Road Task Force, to look at funding sources for a Community Center and sewer improvements. The first meeting of the task force was held on April 30, 2012. The task force will end in July and are tasked with providing a final report at the Assembly of Governments meeting in September. And now, on June 12th, 2013 we will continue to discuss how to provide water and sewer to this community. Time is running out.
After a lengthy discussion at the January 24 county commissioners' meeting, a couple of decisions were made regarding the continued meeting of the Historic Rogers Road Task Force.
First, by unanimous vote, the commissioners approved moving forward with completing plans to fund and build a community center for the Rogers Road community. There was less agreement about the charge of the task force. Commissioner Mark Dorosin wanted to have the task force consider the potential for gentrification in the community once the sewer was extended to all eligible homes. Commissioner Earl Mckee disagreed, stating that homeowners should be able to decide for themselves the highest and best use of their property. There were a variety of motions, friendly and unfriendly amendments made, votes taken, and wordsmithing done until, ultimately, a motion was made to charge the task force to continue their work on extending sewer service, completing the community center, addressing gentrification, and use of the Greene Tract as a funding option. This motion was passed five to two (Commissioners Penny Rich and Bernadette Pelissier voted against).
As many OP readers know, the Historic Rogers Road Task Force has been meeting for the last year to discuss strategies to bring sewer service and a community center to the Rogers Road neighborhood. At the last Assembly of Governments meeting, there was a discussion about whether the task force should continue to meet next year. Michelle Johnson, Molly DeMarco, and I have drafted the following letter to deliver to the county commissioners prior to their January 24th meeting asking them to continue the task force. If you support this effort,
please sign onto our petition prior to January 17th. Dear
Chair Jacobs and Orange County Commissioners:
The Historic Rogers Road Task Force has made progress over the past several months to redress the burden the Rogers Road community has carried in receiving the county's solid waste for over 40 years. Details of a community center are nearing completion. Habitat for Humanity of Orange County will donate two lots for the siting of the community center in the Phoenix Place subdivision. The Orange County Board of Commissioners has approved a capital project of $500,000 to build the community center. A plan is being ironed out for the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association to rent the commuity center from the county for $1 per year. The towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill will contribute to the center's programming costs.
On September 18, 2012, the Board of Aldermen agreed to contribute up to $900,000 for the remediation effort.
Tonight the County Commissioners abandoned tradition and moved swiftly forward on two issues. Despite opposition from Commissioners Alice Gordon and Barry Jacobs, they approved the unpopular rezoning of the Eno Economic Development District that Mark Marcoplos told us about. And at the urging of Commisioners Valerie Foushee and Pam Hemminger, who will both be leaving the board in December, they unanimously approved a resolution drafted on the spot to endorse and more forward the Rogers Road community center.
Where have these action-oriented Commissioners been for the last ten years? I don't want to hear another commissioner talk about how overdue something is without also mentioning how long they have been on the board of commissioners and why they didn't do something about it 5 years ago.
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