Chatham County
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Hackney won't seek re-election; clears path for Insko
N.C. House Minority Leader Joe Hackney announced his retirement this morning, opting not to wage a re-election campaign against long-time colleague Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange.
The two veteran legislators were drawn into the same district, the 56th, by the Republican-produced new maps last year.
Hackney has served 16 terms, 32 years, in the General Assembly representing the 54th district, which includes Orange, Chatham and Moore counties. He was elected Speaker of the House in 2007 following Jim Black’s removal. He severed as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Visitors to Jordan Lake are finding the beaches littered with dead fish after the largest die-off of striped bass in the history of the reservoir.
More than 5,000 striped bass have died in Jordan Lake since Aug. 1; state wildlife officials counted 1,800 on Aug. 9 alone.
The affected area includes the Haw River near Robeson Creek to the main basin of the lake near the U.S. 64 bridge.
The fish kill is due to what biologists call a “dissolved oxygen/ temperature squeeze,” according to Brian McRae, Piedmont Region fishery supervisor with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. In the deeper portions of the lake, the water is cooler, but there is less oxygen; meanwhile in the upper part of the water, the oxygen supply is more plentiful, but the water is hot.
“They get squeezed from both sides,” McRae says. “The record summer temperatures finally put them over the edge.”
The water temperature in Jordan Lake has hovered around 84 degrees since early July, chronically stressing the striped bass, which, more so than other fish in the reservoir, are susceptible to temperature extremes. They prefer water in the 80—81-degree range.
“The hot water increases their metabolism, which means they need to eat more, but they don’t want to eat,” McRae explains.
State wildlife officials have excluded other causes for the fish kill, such as excessive algae blooms, which can also deplete the water of oxygen, because so far only striped bass have been affected. Larger bass, those 18—30 inches, and a favorite of anglers, are dying in greater numbers than smaller fish, whose metabolisms are lower.
Although wildlife officials restock the lake every spring with about 70,000 striped bass, anglers could catch fewer of them this winter until the next crop of fish moves in.
Jordan Lake is a “pretty severe environment” for striped bass, McRae says, adding, “We never thought striped bass would do well in the system.” However, under normal conditions, the bass have thrived, likely because the food supply is adequate and the fish have enough reserves to endure the stress.
However, this year’s heat wave has stressed them beyond what they could withstand. More than 6,000 striped bass in the lake could die before temperatures return to normal.
And this summer has broken all semblance of normal.
Raleigh has hit 100 degrees or higher nine days since July 1, including five consecutive days from July 20—24, according to data from the National Weather Service.
The average temperature for July was 83.7 degrees, the warmest on record.
Seven days in July had record highs.
Record high minimums—meaning day’s low temperature—happened on seven occasions that month, including July 24 when the low “dipped” to only 79 degrees.
“The only thing that will turn it around is colder weather,” McRae says.
Eagles and other birds are gathering on the beaches to eat the dead birds fish, McRae says. "They're having a field day."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
After 53 years, the Chatham County Bookmobile is dead.
As part of departmental budget cuts, Chatham County commissioners have eliminated funding for the traveling library. For residents of northeast Chatham, the bookmobile was the easiest way to access library books. In 2001, a consultant hired by the county found that northeast Chatham, the fastest-growing part of the county, had the greatest need for a library.
However, the county's main library wound up in Pittsboro after Central Carolina Community College donated land for it. With no library in the northeastern part of the county, the bookmobile and its driver/ librarian, Edna Johnson, spent four days a week traveling to 19 stops in that area—some bimonthly, some weekly. In addition to the bookmobile's 5,000 volumes, patrons could request delivery of books from the three other Chatham County libraries.
Commissioners considered a 5 percent cut to the library budget last January. At the time, Chatham County Public Library Director Linda Clarke recommended the bookmobile be eliminated, in addition to temporary jobs from branch libraries. Clarke said it "was a tough decision," but the greatest financial motive was the savings in reassigning Johnson to other branch libraries.
Clarke says she's aware that the loss of the bookmobile could translate to a loss in readership. But, she says statistics showed that "a lot of people that used the bookmobile also used the other branches." Last year, the Sanford Herald cited a study showing that, 222 of the 536 people who used the bookmobile in the past 12 months had also visited a branch library. "In their case it was a duplication," says Clarke. "When you're cutting back, that's going to be the first thing to go."
The commissioners deferred the final decision until a June 6 budget meeting, when the recommended cuts were officially incorporated into the county manager's yearly budget.
"Nobody likes to see any services reduced," says Board of Commissioners Chairman Brian Bock. "The bigger question is, Is the county supporting the library system? You don't have unlimited funds, so you have to prioritize."
The bookmobile served about 600 people every month. Stops included day cares, schools, retirement communities, and several neighborhoods throughout northeast Chatham. Its patrons often had limited access to the other libraries for financial, logistical or personal reasons.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Kinnaird says Republican-proposed districts “re-segregating North Carolina,” hopes courts will overturn double-bunking with Atwater
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, Person, one of 10 state senators drawn into the same district as another sitting senator under the redistricting proposal Republicans released Tuesday, says she would seek to hold onto her seat, but running against a colleague would be “a very difficult situation.”
- Photo courtesy of ncleg.net
“Bob is a very good senator in Chatham County and running against a friend and fellow senator is very disappointing to me,” she said. “It’s a stressful situation and we certainly are not looking forward to it.”
The situation is not new for Kinnaird who defeated colleague Howard Lee in 2002 when their districts were merged. She won a hard-fought, but respectful primary campaign by just 119 votes.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Chatham County Commissioners on Monday plan to rescind a two-year-old resolution that critics say will hurt relations between undocumented immigrants and police.
In 2009, the previous board of commissioners, then dominated by Democrats, adopted a resolution acknowledging that undocumented immigrants live in and contribute to their communities:
"Chatham County is home to a diverse population — including people of color, documented and undocumented immigrants, citizens and noncitizens — whose contributions to the community are vital to its character and function; and whereas the Board of Commissioners is committed to upholding the civil rights of all persons in Chatham County and to protecting the enjoyment of any and all rights and privileges secured by the constitutions and laws of the United States.”
Commission Chairman Brian Bock, a Republican, said that the current board feels the language in the resolution discouraged local police and sheriff’s departments from entering into any future agreements with state or federal law enforcement.
"The original resolution was too broad," he said, "and we have this opinion sitting out there, that does not reflect the current board's opinions, and that is why we have decided to rescind it."
Activists fear that by abandoning this resolution, the commissioners will send not only a symbolic message that undocumented immigrants are unwelcome in Chatham, but they also will create a hostile climate for them.
Chatham Immigration Action Alert, a citizens’ group, is urging citizens and immigrants to speak out in disapproval of the commissioners’ plan to rescind the resolution.
“As a community, we worked hard to create and defend the original ICE Resolution,” writes Chatham Immigration Action Alert organizer Ilana Dubester, who is originally from Brazil and has lived in Chatham County for 20 years. “Is this in the best interest of our county’s inhabitants and businesses?”
At a May 16 commissioners meeting, Dubester, who also serves on the county’s Human Relations Commission, told the board that “all immigrants, including the undocumented, pay their share in taxes and contribute to the wealth of our state. Immigrants cannot be neatly divided into the so-called good immigrants with papers and bad immigrants without.
“Most families have mixed status—some members are documented while others are not,” she continued. “Resolutions that target the undocumented inevitably impact legal immigrants. Words matter. When Chatham leaders in the past voiced their hostility toward the undocumented, David Duke came marching into town. Collaboration with ICE is bad for public safety and bad for the economy.”
Thursday, March 24, 2011
House committee OKs Cary, Apex deal with Chatham to nix involuntary annexation
The deal to prevent Cary and Apex from annexing parts of Chatham County without approval from the Chatham County Board of County Commissioners is sailing through the General Assembly.
Commission Chairman Brian Bock announced the agreement Feb. 21 when the commissioners approved the Western Wake Partners’ plan to run 8.1-miles of wastewater treatment pipe underground through the county from the unincorporated Wake County town of New Hill to the Cape Fear River.
The partners, composed of Apex, Cary, Morrisville and RTP South, offered to take involuntary annexation off he table and to help push the legislation through this session in exchange for Chatham commissioners approving plan. Chatham commissioners voted 3-2 to allow the pipeline and also received $500,000 to spruce up a youth center and the option to tap-in to the pipeline in the future as needed.
As Bock promised, House Majority Leader Skip Stam, a Republican, and House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, a Democrat, are sponsoring the bill. Stam’s district includes Apex, which would be served by the wastewater treatment plant. Hackney represents Chatham County.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Chatham residents, Wake mayors, business leaders debate pipeline
(This story was updated Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m.)
MONCURE—More than two dozen people spoke before the Chatham Board of County Commissioners Monday night at a public hearing a plan to run an 8.1-mile underground pipeline from Western Wake County through Southeastern Chatham County.
Western Wake Partners—the towns of Apex, Cary, Morrisville and Research Triangle Park-South—are constructing a $327 million wastewater treatment plant in unincorporated New Hill, but they need to build the pipeline to funnel treated wastewater to the Cape Fear River. About a dozen landowners would need to give up 40-foot-wide easements to bury the pipes, which are 5 feet in diameter.
- The proposed pipeline route runs from New Hill to the Cape Fear River along roads and through the yards of a dozen Chatham property owners.
- Courtesy of Western Wake Partners
Chatham County Commission Chairman Brian Bock says the board will vote on the pipeline at its next meeting, Feb. 21.
Chatham Commissioner Sally Kost says she plan to vote against the pipeline unless the only way "we were able to develop a list of concession from the partners that benefited Chatham, but as it's currently proposed I just don’t see what's in it for Chatham County." She is concerned that business expansion that occurs as a result of the wastewater treatment plant could be limited to Wake County, while Chatham County could experience largely residential growth that would worsen the area's problems with sprawl.
Many Chatham County residents were vigorously opposed over concerns about pipeline leaks, uncontrolled growth, the possibility of future annexation by Cary and decreasing property values.
However, representatives of RTP businesses supported the pipeline because they say the additional infrastructure is necessary to sustain and grow the local economy.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
New Hill Community Association settles with Western Wake Partners
The New Hill Community Association announced this morning it has dropped its lawsuit against Western Wake Partners in exchange for amenities including a $500,000 New Hill community center.
For the past five years the association has fought the Western Wake Partners' plan to build a $327 million wastewater treatment plant in New Hill’s historical and predominantly African-American neighborhood.
The settlement agreement (newhill_settlement.pdf) comes after the two court-ordered mediation sessions with the association, the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and the partners—the towns of Cary, Apex, Morrisville and RTP South.
The agreement states, “the parties recognize that [the] Project will impact the New Hill Community, and Partners have minimized and mitigated potential negative impacts.”
Terms of the agreement include the partners constructing two 4-foot-by-8-foot glass-and-steel bus shelters for the community's school children, and placing $500,000 in an escrow fund for the construction of a community center.
If the community center is built close to the wastewater treatment plant, the partners will provide water and sewer lines and other infrastructure. The agreement also stipulates that the partners will run water and sewer to 36 homes near the plant.
But the agreement has a hitch: The association must not make any negative comments about the project or openly oppose it. If the association violates this or other terms of the agreement, the escrow fund for the community center will be revoked and disbursed to the Town of Cary, the lead agency for the partners.
“This has been a vigorous, robust debate in which the parties made a concerted effort to mitigate impacts to New Hill,” New Hill Community Association President Paul Barth said in a press release. “We, the officers of the NHCA, encourage all of our association’s members and community’s advocates to accept the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facilities. We end all protests to the project. In addition, we will not oppose the Chatham County pipeline and will not encourage other groups to use NHCA’s name in opposing it.”
The partners want to build an 8.1-mile pipeline from the plant to the Haw Cape Fear River through parts of Chatham County. A public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 7. at at 6 p.m., at Moncure School, 600 Moncure School Road in Chatham County.
Apex Mayor Kevin Weatherly released the following statement, “The New Hill Community Association has been a strong advocate for the interests of their community. We are pleased that our negotiations have reached a successful conclusion and that the New Hill Community Center will serve New Hill residents well for many years. Because of this agreement, we can now be assured that one of the most important projects of its kind in the state is able to proceed in an efficient and economical manner.”
Weatherly said the treatment plant project is crucial to economic growth in Western Wake County. “Continued economic vitality is necessary to provide jobs for families in our region,” he said.
Last September, the association and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group, filed a petition for contested jearing, in an attempt to stop the partners from receiving preliminary permits from DENR to begin construction of the plant.
The petition contended that the site “has larger human and environmental justice impacts than other, more suitable alternatives, including land previously condemned by Progress Energy in the same general vicinity. Noise, odor, traffic, and light spill from the sewage treatment plant will impact the New Hill Historic District, including the predominantly African-American First Baptist Church and cemetery.”
The plant, which was scheduled to begin construction this year, will not be built in Apex or Cary or any of the partners' towns. Instead it will loom across the street from the New Hill Baptist Church and playground, and a half-mile from the First Baptist Church of New Hill. The plant will sit within 1,000 feet of 23 homes. But who lives in those homes is as important: 87 percent of those approximately 230 residents immediately affected by the sewage treatment plant are African-American, on fixed incomes, elderly or retired.
Chris Brook, attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, says the settlement could ultimately benefit New Hill.
“Over the last five years, the New Hill community has come together as never before,” said Barth. “The bus shelters, community center, and extension of services to those closest to the plant will help to mitigate the impacts to our community and will go a long way in moving our community forward.”
Thursday, January 20, 2011
- Source: Flickr Creative Commons - D'Arcy Norman
Earlier this week, Chatham County Commissioners Brian Bock, Walter Petty and Pamela Stewart voted to postpone indefinitely the search for a new landfill.
"I would have liked to have held the community meetings to give the opportunity to citizens to have their questions answered and to hear their direct concerns,” said Commissioner Sally Kost, who was absent from Tuesday’s vote due to health issues.
She did not anticipate that the commissioners would vote so quickly.
County officials had scheduled four public hearings over the next three weeks. Of the nine sites on the short list, six were in communities that opposed a landfill, but community members from sites near Goldston and Bear Creek townships had not spoken against it.
Kost is troubled that her fellow commissioners circumvented including the Solid Waste Advisory Committee in their final decision.
Dan LaMontagne, director of the Waste Management department, told the Indy earlier this month that the commissioners would decide on whether to approve a local or a regional landfill. However, he reportedly did not expect the vote to happen Tuesday, either. LaMontagne could not be reached for comment.
During the 18-month search for a landfill site, the Solid Waste Committee hired engineers Richardson Smith Gardner and Associates, Inc., who released the 2009 Waste Feasibility Study. The study cost Chatham $49,952.
According to the feasibility study, the county had hoped to save $148 million—$195 million over 40 years if it built its own landfill.
“Before I could have supported such a vote, I would like to have known the financial implications and what it means in terms of the site selection process,” said Kost. “I think it would have been best if we could have narrowed the sites down further, but this is what the majority of the commissioners wanted.”
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Chatham County will continue to export its trash after Chatham County officials on Tuesday halted an 18-month search for a new landfill.
The Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to stop looking for a site in Chatham County; Brian Bock, Pamela Stewart and Walter Petty cast votes; Commissioners Sally Kost and Mike Cross were absent due to health reasons.
The public hearings scheduled for Jan. 19, Jan. 20 and Feb. 9, have been canceled.
Chatham County citizens, especially those living near the nine proposed sites (see PDF of nine sites), had been concerned about where the landfill would be located.
Chatham County has a three-year contract with Waste Management to ship garbage 81 miles to a landfill in Sampson County.
Bock, Petty and Stewart say they have received hundreds of e-mails from constituents alarmed by the prospect of a regional or local landfill. No one, they say, spoke in favor of constructing a landfill in the county.
"We all know there are enormous environmental impacts associated with a landfill," said Petty, "and we need to look at other alternatives."
Bock said last year he supported a landfill in Chatham County, but that his perceptions of the project quickly shifted after speaking with residents, including those from Hickory Mountain and the Preserve Chatham County, citizens’ groups that opposed it.
Petty concluded that a landfill is only affordable if it accepts waste from other counties, allowing Chatham County to generate money from disposal fees. Instead, Petty said, Chatham County must focus on more recycling and reducing waste. Chatham County generates 180 tons of trash per day.
The county's old unlined landfill was closed in 1993, and has since leaked contaminants including chromium, barium and lead, into nearby groundwater, according to N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources documents. Four sites proposed for the new landfill were located within one mile of the former landfill. Forty-five of 47 families in that area, including East Alston Road, are African-American. (See PDF of landfill site map for Buckner Clark Road.)
Ernest Alston lives on East Alston Road, within 150 feet of the old landfill and less than 200 feet away from two of the proposed sites. The community is not connected to a public water system and relies on private wells. According to DENR documents, since 2007, three private wells in that area have been found to be contaminated by substances leaking from the old landfill.
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