What you don't know may harm you

September 23, 2011
By Beverly Kerr

I am concerned about the lack of awareness concerning major changes to our county. The Alamance County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing for Monday, Oct. 3 to revise the Alamance County High Impact Land Uses /Polluting Industries Ordinance.

Thanks goes to our local newspapers for their community service of publishing the facts to protect and inform the public. Much appreciation also for their delivery of consistent follow up reporting.

Citizens should be alarmed by the recommended revision to reduce the spacing requirements between polluting industry and homes and business from 2,000 feet to 250 feet or more. These changes are clearly not for the benefit of the citizens who want safe and clean neighborhoods. The ordinance is not consistent with the adopted Alamance County Land Development Plan. It does not balance economic development with environmental protection. It does not reflect community values or encourage quality development for our county.

The ordinance was adopted in 2006 to “promote the health, safety and general welfare of local citizens, and to promote the peace and dignity of the county.” Polluting industries produce objectionable levels of noise, odors, vibrations, fumes, light, smoke and other impacts upon the lands adjacent to them. Toxic and hazardous emissions sometimes contaminate the air and water and soil surrounding the area, so the standards were set to allow for the placement and growth of such uses, while maintaining the health, safety and general welfare standard of established residential and clean commercial business in Alamance County.

At a recent county commissioners meeting, there was a disagreement of the number of meetings held by a subcommittee about the ordinance. We expressed our concern that the last two scheduled meetings were unexpectedly cancelled and that the issue had not been given enough time and thought. Citizens have publicly asked that the meetings be rescheduled for further discussion. By the subcommittee only having four meetings during inconvenient weekday afternoons, most people were not able to attend because of work and other obligations.

Even though the planning board website states, “Minutes of Planning Board Meetings for the current calendar year are located below” … there are none posted as of Sept. 21. During planning board meetings, there were planning board members who expressed their own concerns about some of the pending revisions. The minutes of the planning board meetings should be made available to the public on the website. How can the public know the details of the meeting discussions when they are not made available?

We continue to be alarmed that these recommended changes have not been given the careful consideration deserved and the public has not been allowed enough participation. We are concerned that the county manager and commissioners have not been given a clear picture of all the issues around this very controversial ordinance. Our county manager has publicly suggested the commissioners hold a meeting to further research the ordinance and we encourage this meeting before the public hearing takes place.

There is no need to rush passing of this ordinance without a full investigation to access the true impacts imposed by these changes. More work needs to be done. Commissioners should either send this back to planning, conduct their own analysis or reject the ordinance outright.

The proposed ordinance, as well as the ordinance it is poised to replace, directly addresses the issue of pollution; no amount of relabeling or denial can change that. The difference is that the proposed ordinance allows a lot more pollution, in a lot more places throughout the county.

Mad that this revised ordinance doesn’t consider the effects on our air, water and soil? Mad that our children’s health is not considered? Wonder if a polluting industry might affect your business? We deserve answers to these questions. Simply put, this revised ordinance will not protect the interests of the community. Attend the Public Hearing and speak up Monday, Oct. 3 at 7 pm.



At the time of this writing, Beverly Kerr of Graham was the communications and community organizer for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

This column appeared at http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/county-48031-alamance-ordinance.html

More Info: Alamance County, NC Pollution Ordinance