'Keep the public informed:' Town of Chapel Hill hosts open house for coal ash site

On April 21, the Town of Chapel Hill hosted an open house at the Chapel Hill Public Library for residents who wanted to learn more about the presence of coal ash at the 828 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd site. Attendees were encouraged to provide recommendations on what should be done with the land. 

“This is really just another way for us to keep the public informed in a casual way, where the public can go from board to board, read more about some of the historical context and the details of the timeline moving forward,” the Town's Community Relations Manager Shay Stevens said. 

The property currently hosts the Chapel Hill Police Department headquarters, and, according to the Town's website, the coal ash and construction debris materials were discovered in 2013.

Town of Chapel Hill staff plan to update the Town Council in June on community feedback and information about the property. 

At the open house, Town Community Sustainability Manager John Richardson said Chapel Hill is trying to be thoughtful about safety because of the heavy metals in coal combustion products found on the property. He said you can become exposed to these metals through ingestion or by digging through the material. 

“Really, it's about preventing access to [coal combustion products], because long-term exposure to these materials can be carcinogenic,” he said. 

Town Council Member Melissa McCullough said if the entire site is remediated, then the Town would be sending it to a different, low-income town. The Town does not have a spare $20 million in its budget to remediate the site, she said, and they have to determine what tradeoffs to make for the site. 

“This is the presence of toxic material that needs to be managed in order for it to be safe,” McCullough said. “I personally do not believe that that means it all needs to be dug out.”

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality sent a signed Brownfields Agreement to the Town of Chapel Hill on Dec. 30, 2024. A brownfields agreement outlines specific steps a developer can take to clean up or remediate a property, which has been affected by environmental contamination that has hindered its redevelopment. 

“I've seen some really wonderful brownfields projects that end up being a real asset to the community by doing a cleanup at a remediation, or a cap and fill, and make it useful, so that we can get some value out of that land,” McCullough said. 

Under the Town's Brownfields Agreement, the property cannot be used for schools, child or adult care centers, residential use, agriculture or grazing. The land can potentially be used for transit, parking, retail, office space or recreational spaces including basketball, tennis or pickleball courts. 

Marsha Davenport, a Chapel Hill resident, said at the open house that when a site is potentially dangerous or has environmental issues, she thinks it is important to weigh the risks and benefits when trying to remediate it. 

“Unfortunately, you'd like to take it all the away, but it's what, $11 million versus $3 million or something, by doing the cap and cover pursuit, but it's always a balance,” she said. 

Richardson said his team continues to monitor the site after every half inch of rain and does routine sampling. He said environmental justice is an important value to the council and his team. 

“Our job is not to make a decision,” Richardson said. “Our job is to bring the information to the decision makers, including what community members want to see here and how they're feeling about it.”

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