Aldermen pass resolution for OWASA collaboration

Before town and county governments can move forward with promised plans for the Rogers Road neighborhood, residents say they need to know their role.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen passed a resolution Tuesday that will allow the Carrboro town manager to collaborate with Orange Water and Sewer Authority, Orange County and Chapel Hill to refine an outreach program for sewage services in Rogers Road.

The Rogers Road community housed the county’s landfill for 40 years.

Board members reviewed a community outreach draft presented by representatives of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center, a public history and community development center in Chapel Hill. Elizabeth McCain, manager of operations, education and research at the center, presented the draft with Hudson Vaughan, the center’s deputy director.

The Rev. Robert Campbell, president of the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association, spoke on behalf of Rogers Road residents and in favor of the community outreach project created by the center.

“The reason why (the outreach project) needs to go forward is that the residents need to know what their involvement in this process needs to be,” Campbell said.

Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said she thought the inclusion of proposals for the Greene Tract, an undeveloped piece of land located near Purefoy and Rogers Roads, should not be included in the draft.

“This is morphing into something larger than what I supported,” she said. “I want water and sewer. I don’t want a study for what to do with the Greene Tract.”

Gist said she wanted work on the Rogers Road sewer project to begin as soon as possible, but she did not want to feel forced into endorsing extra measures in the project.

“I feel like I’m backed up against a wall — I’m feeling a little manipulated,” she said.

McCain and Vaughan said the community outreach program would create oral histories to strengthen the Rogers Road community identity.

Some aldermen said the construction of a community center is already included in the Rogers Road plans, meaning the oral histories might be unnecessary.

Alderman Sammy Slade said he worried focusing on community outreach at this stage in the sewer project might delay Rogers Road construction. Vaughan said this would not be an issue.

“We’re really trying to mobilize by the deadlines to make sure there isn’t any more delay,” he said.

Gist said she would like to see the community outreach program simplified.

“I would like a really simple proposal, you know; we need water and sewer out here, we need a community center built and staffed,” she said.

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