SUMMARY MINUTES OF ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS MEETING

SOUTHERN HUMAN SERVICES BUILDING

THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 2006

A meeting of the Orange County Assembly of Governments was held in the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill on Thursday, March 30, 2006 at 7:30 p.m.

Chapel Hill Town Council Members Present: Mayor Kevin Foy, Mayor Pro tem Bill Strom, Laurin Easthom, Sally Greene, Ed Harrison, Cam Hill, Mark Kleinschmidt, Bill Thorpe and Jim Ward.

Orange County Board of Commissioners Present: Chair Barry Jacobs, Vice Chair Stephen Halkiotis, Valerie Foushee, and Alice Gordon. Commissioner Moses Cary was absent.

Town of Hillsborough Commissioners Absent: Mayor Tom Stevens, Mayor Pro tem Frances Dancy, Evelyn Lloyd, Brian Lower, Michael Gering, and Eric Hallman.

Town of Carrboro Aldermen Present: Joe Hall Broun, Randee Haven-O’Donnell, and Dan Coleman. Mayor Mark Chilton, Jacquelyn Gist, Alex Zaffron, and John Herrera were absent.

Mayor Foy announced that the Town of Chapel Hill was host for the meeting. He outlined the agenda noting that one item of discussion was the Rogers Road area because it was the concept of the organization that all units had an interest in this area. He said there would also be a discussion of the Greene Tract. Mayor Foy added that three or four years ago the Town of Chapel Hill agreed it would use a portion of the property for affordable housing and the other half of the tract for green or open space. He said the Town of Chapel Hill was prepared to move forward with the Small Area Plan.

Mayor Foy said that there would also be a report on the Development of the Solid Waste Management Plan because of the landfill location.

Mayor Foy said another item for discussion would be Inter-Faith Council (IFC) services. He explained that the Town of Chapel Hill owns the property where the IFC is located and property at the Town Operations Center has been offered to the IFC for their men’s shelter. Mayor Foy said the IFC had been asked to give the Assembly information on the organization as a whole.

Inter-Faith Council: Need for Improved Facilities and Program Support

Representing the Inter-Faith Council were members of the Board of Directors President Susan Anderson, Natalie Ammarell, Gloria Brown, Vice President Ann Henley and Director Chris Moran.

Ms. Henley noted that there were a number of items for discussion. She said there was a need for active participation to secure a site for the men’s facility. She added that two groups were needed, composed of elected officials and staff persons, to work with IFC to move from the planning stage into action. Ms. Henley said IFC was ready with a well-defined plan for facilities and programs. She said IFC’s plan was to maintain project Home Start in its current mode, as a combined emergency shelter and long-term housing for women and children.

Ms. Henley said IFC wanted to provide the same services for male clients in a facility ranging from an emergency shelter to a single room occupancy program, and to house in a central location the administrative staff, food services and crisis intervention case management.

Ms. Henley said that IFC also had some realities. She said one of those realities was  the crippling loss three years ago of Housing and Urban Development funding resulting in a $300,000 reduction of their annual operations budget. She added that because of further cut-backs in federal and state funding and the subsequent erosion of social services there was an increasing and changing population that needed IFC services more than ever.

Ms. Henley said another factor to consider was the urgent need on the part of local congregations themselves heavily impacted by these same forces for more investment of their time, money, volunteers and resources on crisis intervention.

Ms. Henley said the most serious reality was a recent feasibility study finding that IFC was ill-positioned to take on a capital campaign to raise funds for the facilities.

Ms. Henley said if IFC could raise the funds then they could vacate the IFC shelter, but then they would be out of the community kitchen business. She said they first needed a location for the men’s facility and then they needed two focus groups – one for siting and funding and one to tackle the renovations of the Douglas Building or to find another facility to house the men’s facility and kitchen. She thanked the members of the Assembly for their current and past support.

Mr. Coleman said he wanted clarification on the sites available.

Mayor Foy said the Town of Chapel Hill had offered two sites - one on Legion Road and one across the street from the Town Operations Center. He said IFC had looked at both sites.

Ms. Ammerell said the Board had discussed both sites thoroughly and at this point had made no decision. She said they favored the Mill House Road site. She said the rural buffer and transportation issues had prevented further action. She said the Board believed the men’s facility could function very well there if those issues could be worked out.

Mr. Moran said the IFC center worked well because of its central location and women in particular navigated very well there. He said the Mill House property was pretty remote. Mr. Moran said IFC had only two locations to look at and while location was important, they could make it work if they had to.

Mayor Foy said IFC looked at two other locations. He added that at the Mill House location there were more buses going back and forth. He said the bigger concern was the fact that it was located in the rural buffer.

Mr. Moran said of the two previously mentioned properties that one had been sold and the other had a permanent stream on it.

Mr. Jacobs said after the last meeting he had looked at the water and sewer maps. He said further discussion was needed on what was needed for the facility in the rural buffer. Mr. Jacobs said he believed they needed to go ahead and resolve the definition of what was an essential public facility.

Mr. Halkiotis said he believed the Southern Human Services building site was an essential public facility because it housed Social Services offices. He said people could access it by either bus service or by foot. He told the Assembly that this is where they needed to look. Mr. Halkiotis said that this property belonged to everyone.

Mr. Kleinschmidt said he had concerns about the Mill House Road location. He said because of its remote location the perception of need would not be in front of the people. He said it also seemed like it would be servicing fewer people.

Mr. Moran said they liked the current location, although the size was not adequate. He said because of its historic significance it could not be renovated. He said the current location was visible and close to jobs services. Mr. Moran said they had proposed to add onto it but that had become the impossible dream. He said they needed to do something together, public-private, to realize this dream.

Ms. Ammerell said the new men’s facility would not reduce the number of people serviced. She said the number of men who would receive services would be increased. Ms. Ammerell said what they were proposing was similar to Project Home Start. She said they would offer shelter and the men could earn their way to various levels of service and ultimately support independent living units.

Mr. Moran explained the number of beds at the Homestead facility and sleeping areas for emergencies.

Ms. Broun asked for clarification about discussion of water and sewer services in the rural buffer.

Mr. Halkiotis said he believed the issue of water and sewer had to be a major discussion topic. He said he didn’t have a problem with the county looking at a footprint on the site of the Southern Human Services building because the infrastructure was in place there.

Mr. Coleman asked if IFC had plans to expand due to the effect of various aspects of the economy on homelessness.

Mr. Moran said the problem was much greater than it seemed to be. He said expansion would be part of IFC’s goal. He said what they hadn’t said was they needed to do it with other service organizations.

Mr. Strom asked if the Southern Human Services site would work. Mr. Moran said it would and that they would be very excited about the prospect.

Mr. Strom said it made sense to put services where the infrastructure already existed.

Mr. Jacobs said he was willing to put the Southern Human Services building on the table and if there was a potential building site there, once the feasibility was determined, then the current site could be expanded. He said they needed to move forward.

Ms. Ammerell said it was frustrating to IFC because this was not a decision that they could make.

Ms. Broun asked if the Southern Human Services building was not viable for the facility then where would it go. She said they could not remain static because of the essential public facility issue.

Mr. Ward said he supported the idea and encouraged everyone to come forward with in-kind commitments. He said they needed to begin the conversation as soon as they could come up with commitments and see how this could be solved.

Mr. Thorpe said they needed to move forward while Mr. Halkiotis was still in office. He said he was ready to move forward.

Mayor Foy said each unit should make appointments to committees by April. He said IFC could give all units a petition to take action. It was noted that Hillsborough had its own facility and was not participating.

Mr. Coleman requested updates on the planning process.

Orange County: Interim Report on Development of Solid Waste Management Plan

Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Management Director, said the draft Solid Waste Plan would not likely be presented until late summer or fall due to the work loads of elected officials and other issues. Those issues Mr. Wilson said included the transfer station, the lack of any more solid waste landfills in Orange County, and the materials recovery facility processing alternatives.

Mr. Strom said that the full plan that would come before all boards would need some additional tweaking. He said the Work Group needed more input from boards.

Mr. Wilson said they looked for guidance form the boards because the process belonged to the units. He said the plan would be revised as necessary.

Mr. Strom said that when the report came out it was important that the boards get updates that provide an executive summary.

Mr. Ward asked what the County’s position was on siting landfills.

Mr. Wilson said there would be no more landfills in Orange County. He said that once the landfill was full, solid waste would be transferred to an out-of-County facility.

Mr. Ward said he wanted all units to be clear about the cost of that option, noting fuel costs and air quality. He also asked if former landfills were producing methane gas.

Mr. Wilson said the consultant had reported that the facility was generating methane gas and would continue to but that it would be minimal. He added that there was some potential possibility of providing utilities to other facilities. He said the University had expressed interest in using gas for Carolina North.

Mr. Ward asked if there was an interim solution to burn off the methane gas that was being generated. Mr. Wilson said that there was one burner at the landfill.

Ms. Gordon said that UNC was interested in buying methane gas for Carolina North. She said she would pursue conversations with the University about piping it and using it to produce steam.

Mayor Foy asked Mr. Wilson if they were talking to neighboring counties about sharing a landfill. Mr. Wilson said they had spoken to Alamance County.

Mr. Jacobs said that perhaps the animal shelter, the elementary school and other facilities might be interested in using the methane gas.

Mr. Strom said referring to page three of the memorandum that the County was not endorsing the 61 percent waste reduction goal.

Mr. Jacobs said they were committed to the 61 percent reduction. He said the issue was how they would get there, with a sorting facility or a recovery facility.

Mr. Halkiotis said Alamance County had said they didn’t want Orange County garbage.

Ms. Broun said nobody wants solid waste. She said if they were going to transfer garbage then they needed to be realistic and honest. She told Mr. Wilson to continue the work they were doing and to keep them informed.

Mayor Foy asked about the Habitat Store. Mr. Wilson said there was the possibility of a resale store.

Mr. Ward asked if there was access to reusable items. Mr. Wilson said there was a salvage shed where furniture and other useful items were available. Mr. Ward added that reuse was important.

Mr. Wilson said it needed to be reemphasized that the facility was for those in need or those disposing of reusable items.

Update on the Development of a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road Neighborhood

David Bonk, Long Range and Transportation Coordinator for Chapel Hill, said the effort to organize a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road area had begun in 2005. He explained that the memorandum members had received covered the history and background of the issue.

Mr. Bonk said detailed discussions began in 2005, with the most recent action being the Chapel Hill Town Council requesting that the Town of Carrboro and Orange County participate in the Small Area Plan. He said they hoped work could begin on the plan this summer.

Mr. Coleman said that after looking at the map he wanted to know the goal of the Small Area Plan.  

Mayor Foy said that this was an opportunity for all participants to discuss the issue.

Mr. Kleinschmidt said that before Rogers Road Small Area Plan was initiated the Council thought it would be helpful if they invited Carrboro and Orange County to join them in planning for this area. Mr. Kleinschmidt indicated that one of the Chapel Hill Council goals was to avoid a “donut hole” that did not receive services.

Mr. Coleman said they needed an update on the Carrboro Northern Small Area Plan so they could figure out how the two could dovetail.

Ms. Broun said it was important that the plan take into consideration transportation and bus services to this area. She said it would also be helpful to consider water and sewer services because she believed the residents wanted these services. She noted that this neighborhood had the burden of living near the landfill.

Ms. O’Donnell said that neighbors on the west side of Rogers Road should be included.

Mr. Jacobs asked about the state of conservation easements for the Greene Tract Following a brief discussion on conservation easements, Mayor Foy said the following information should be brought back to the Assembly of Governments: the cost, who owns what, how it will happen, and information concerning the conservation easements.

Ms. Gordon said she would like her memory refreshed concerning the conservation easements.

Mr. Kleinschmidt said the Town needed to move forward with the Small Area Plan. He said they would begin the process on July 1 and he invited everyone to join the Town of Chapel Hill.

Mr. Coleman said it needed to be put on their agenda and then determined how they would go about it.

Mayor Foy said it was the decision of Orange County and Carrboro whether they wanted to participate in the project. He said Chapel Hill could do a Small Area Plan for their portion of the property.

The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m.