TBlake's blog

A Plan for a Plan

I went to the OCBoCC meeting on Monday about the transfer station. I came away more convinced than ever that locating a transfer station in a rural farming or residential area is a bad idea. I think a lot of good reasons for it being a bad idea were put forth, and as I took notes I realized that the OCBoCC all know most of these arguments and reasons not to do this, so rehashing it is not of any particular benefit. What I think has not been done yet is to put together an outline/timeline of an alternative that involves all of the potential players and describes the benefits with an end goal in mind.

So, rather than rehash, I thought I could take a stab at a plan for a plan. Obviously the outline below is a strawman (the 21st century equivalent of the back of a napkin) and needs refinement. A lot would need to happen and a lot could happen in parallel. I think you'll get the gist though.

First:

Convince yourselves and the community at large.

WTE makes sense looking down the road five to seven years when tipping fees increase and as the county grows.

I Stand Corrected

Before I elaborate on my mea culpa, let me assure the gentile reader I have not wavered one iota in my opposition to this ill conceived airport idea. In fact I am more dedicated than ever :)

I had the opportunity to exchange emails with House Speaker Hackney on the subject of my claim that S1925 bypasses county zoning ordinances. Speaker Hackney asserted that S1925 did not circumvent zoning and that he had put specific language into the bill that prevented Orange county zoning from being bypassed. I told him was not a lawyer, but I still had concerns.

Speaker Hackney pointed to this specific language in S1925:

Thorp Interview on the Jetport

I was struck by the circular logic displayed by UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp in his Chapel Hill News interview. To me, (and I admit having researched the issue and made my mind up about it) the notion of taking land by eminent domain, tearing up the countryside and spending 40-50 million of my tax money is just not justified by a dodgy economic "working paper" and Thorp saying "It's better for us to have a regional airport".

CHN: If RDU was acceptable then and it's acceptable in the interim, what difference does it make whether you take 35 minutes to get to an airport or 25 minutes to get to an airport.

Thorp: Because we can develop our own operations.

 

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