Rogers Road Sewer Project Moving Forward

Another hurdle has been cleared in the Rogers Road sewer project.

Orange County Commissioners voted unanimously at the board meeting last Tuesday to move forward with acquiring easements to extend sewer lines to the Rogers Road community.

The Orange County landfill was located in the historically-black community for more than 40 years before closing in 2013 under pressure from environmental justice advocates. Planning to bring in new sewer service has been in the works for more than two years. The proposed sewer line is approximately 18,500 linear feet.

Commissioners heard from county deputy manager Travis Myren about acquiring land to go forward with the project.

“There are about 80 easements that need to be acquired in total,” Myren said. “Seventy-three of those are within the historic Rogers Road neighborhood and seven parcels are outside of that area.”

Myren said the total cost of acquiring the land is estimated to be $212,000. The easement cost is based on current property taxes and will not take into account the property revaluation that goes into effect next year.

Myren presented three recommendations to the board: authorizing the payment of negotiated easement value, authorizing staff to proceed with the condemnation process if a voluntary easement cannot be reached and authorizing staff to bring a budget amendment before the board to cover the cost of acquiring the easements.

The funding will be provided by the county and the municipalities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

County manager Bonnie Hammersley said that the Towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill have been “on board with this.” She added that a team made up of representatives from the county, each town and the Jackson Center have worked closely with the Rogers Road community and OWASA to move the project forward.

Myren said that the county hopes to conduct the voluntary easement outreach by the end of March.

“For those properties for which we cannot voluntarily negotiate the easements, we would proceed with a condemnation process in early April,” Myren said. “That process would be completed then by about the middle of May. And we would need to have all of the easements in place by the time permits are filed on or about June 21.”

County attorney John Roberts said that if any property owners do not want to agree to the voluntary easement process, it should not slow down the project moving forward.

“If someone refuses to grant an easement, the county would place a deposit with the clerk of court,” he told the board. “Once the county places that deposit – and this is after a notice period in which the property owner is notified – once the county makes the deposit of the estimated value of the easement to be acquired, then the county essentially has the easement at that time.”

Minister Robert Campbell, President of the Chapel Hill – Carrboro NAACP, has been instrumental in organizing the effort in the Rogers Road community. He said at the meeting that the community meetings have helped answer questions and calm nerves surrounding the easements.

“People are excited about the possibility of being able to connect up to sewers pretty soon,” Campbell said while thanking the board. “We see the progress that is taking place. Now people are being a little more relaxed, but they are constantly asking questions and they are engaged in the process that is taking place.”

Commission chair Earl McKee thanked Campbell for his continued work to assist the project over the lengthy process.

“I know it’s been a long process but, as we used to say in the tobacco fields, ‘I think we’re in the short rows now.’”

Rogers Road Sewer Project Moving Forward

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