Town of Chapel Hill to discuss Rogers Road funds

The Chapel Hill Town Council could follow Orange County in contributing a portion of funds to the Rogers Road community if the council schedules a long-awaited public hearing tonight.

At the 7 p.m. meeting, council members will discuss whether to continue a hearing on the plan to extend Chapel Hill’s jurisdiction to include part of the Rogers Road community, meaning the town could help fund sewer hookups for residents there.

The hearing, which started on Oct. 21, 2013, was pushed back three times and is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 15, according to tonight’s agenda.

The council discussed the hearing most recently in June, but postponed scheduling it until the fall.

The plan for sewer hookups and a community center in the neighborhood is being jointly funded by Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County.

Orange County is finally contributing its money to the Rogers Road Community Center — two years after funding for the project was budgeted.

“The county is moving forward,” said Carla Banks, Orange County’s director of public affairs.

County Attorney John Roberts gave the Board of County Commissioners the go-ahead Thursday to use $650,000 for improvements to the Rogers Road community.

Banks said the money was set aside in the county’s 2012-13 budget but has not been used because of a pending investigation into Rogers Road by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Banks said the EPA has not provided a timeline for the release of the investigation’s results.

“To move forward with caution is the best course of action,” she said.

The county’s landfill was located in Rogers Road for over 40 years until it was closed in June 2013.

The neighborhood was promised a community center and water and sewer hookups in exchange for housing the landfill when it was first built, but those projects have not been completed.

In May, construction crews broke ground on the community center, which will be located on 101 Edgar St. It is expected to open in October.

Seven years ago, the Rogers Eubanks Neighborhood Association filed a complaint with the EPA about conditions in the neighborhood, but the investigation was only recently completed, and results have not yet been released.

Roberts said the county should be careful moving forward.

“The final decision of the EPA could substantially delay a project that may be no more risky than any other,” he said in a Thursday press release.

Banks said the county plans to allocate additional funds in the next two years to implement the Rogers Road sewer concept plan developed by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority.

“That budget hasn’t been approved yet — it’s just projected dollars that are there,” she said. “We are going to take the appropriate steps in the process and stay within the guidelines we are required to follow from the EPA.”

city@dailytarheel.com

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This online timeline was compiled by assistant city editor Jasmin Singh and assistant online editor Lindsay Carbonell.