In 2013, when the Town of Chapel Hill discovered its police station at 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was constructed on top of coal ash infill, the local government notified the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources.
Now, more than ten years later, the two governments are set to unveil a draft agreement on how to best remediate the toxic substance.
The town shared an update on Thursday saying the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality — which is what NC DENR turned into — is preparing to host a public comment period in coordination with the release of the draft plan finalized with Chapel Hill. The partnership is part of the Brownfields program through NCDEQ, which is used to help mediate sites with environmental contamination and determine good uses for the land with a prospective developer — in this case, the Town of Chapel Hill.
The draft plan is expected to provide insight into how to best address the presence of the coal ash, which was moved to the site with construction debris in the 1960s and 1970s before the town assumed control of the land. The substance has occasionally seeped out of the ground near Bolin Creek, with the town removing some deposits in 2018 and 2019 as part of construction of Bolin Creek Trail. Far more remains underground, though, and the town has grappled with the best direction for how to address it. Past options discussed included ‘capping’ the ash in underground containment — which would not fully remove it from the site — and full removal, which would putting it elsewhere within the area or in another community.
What the draft agreement will not automatically determine, however, is the future of redevelopment of 828 Martin Luther King Boulevard. But it will represent a critical step toward doing that, as an eventual agreement crafted on feedback by community members and Chapel Hill elected officials will be completed later in 2024. The local government has explored different development options at the property for years as it looks to move the police station out of an aging building and utilize town-owned land on a critical corridor. Within the last five years, the ideas of building an updated police station, housing, and private businesses have been examined by town staff. But emerging research around long-term health effects of coal ash exposure and significant testing at the site continued to bring challenges to any potential projects — like in September 2022 when then-Town Manager Maurice Jones alerted the Chapel Hill Town Council the local government would take slower, phased approach to developing the site.
The town council approved the creation of a new concept plan for development at the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard property in March 2023, with the elected officials allowing town staff to focus solely on a new municipal services center. At the time, staff said an updated approach would best help usher along the Brownfields agreement discussions with the NC DEQ and allow the state’s experts to weigh in on best uses or approaches. The local government also sought new places for the Chapel Hill Police Department to move its operations out of 828 MLK Boulevard, with the town council just approving a 15-year lease at 7300 Millhouse Road earlier this week. The move will allow the police and other emergency operations to work in better conditions in the short-term, while opening up the site for eventual construction.
Chapel Hill said it expects the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to post the draft agreement and begin a pubic comment period on Monday, July 1. The details will be on the department’s Public Comment webpage, and should be posted there until July 30.
After that, according to Mayor Jess Anderson, the department will host a public meeting for community members sometime in September or October for additional information to be shared.
“Community members can view and comment on the draft,” Anderson told 97.9 The Hill about the public comment period. “It’ll be accessible online and via hard copies at the Chapel Hill Public Library. DEQ is the lead agency — they’ll kind of be driving this, but we’ll be sharing information. And once the process is over, the council, staff and community will work together to decide about the future use of the site.
“So, this is really the starting point,” the mayor added. “It just means that we are looking at identifying possible uses and what necessary remediation and future monitoring a given use would need.”
Following those stages, the agreement between the Town of Chapel Hill and the Department of Environmental Quality will be finalized, which is estimated to take place around October or November.
More information about the history of Chapel Hill’s redevelopment plans and coal ash mitigation at the 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard property can be found on the town’s website.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
“In 2013, when the Town of Chapel Hill discovered its police station at 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was constructed on top of coal ash infill, the local government notified the North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources.”
That quoted lead sentence above has a very serious flaw. The town did NOT discover the coal ash in 2013. That is not so-called “disinformation”, but just a simple LIE. This is a case of “nothing could be further from the truth”.
UNC was dumping their coal ash starting back in the early 1960’s in the illegal dump site on Airport Road (now MLK). The Town of Chapel Hill had full knowledge of this, as it was front page news. They later condemned and effectively stole the property by court order from the owners, thereby inheriting the dump and all the UNC coal ash. Do not perpetuate the BIG LIE that the Town of Chapel Hill was unaware of the coal ash until it was magically “discovered” in 2013. That is a giant steaming load of bull crap.
Please read my previous editorial from the WCHL Town Square pages posted on 9/19/2022.
Viewpoints: Carolina, Coal Ash and Karma
https://chapelboro.com/town-square/viewpoints-carolina-coal-ash-and-karma
I apologize for any dead links in my article. The original town coal ash website was taken down shortly after I exposed the truth and I guess they were just trying to cover their tracks (or something else, perhaps?).
WCHL has an editorial responsibility to tell the truth, no matter whose feelings get hurt. The harsh truth is far better than an ugly lie. The Town needs to acknowledge their complicity in this mess and UNC needs to clean it up. Anybody with a different opinion is welcome to read my article and decide who is telling the truth for themselves. Facts don’t lie. They don’t need to, as they have nothing to hide.