“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com.
Regarding Chapel Hill Water and Sewer Expansion & WASMPBA
A perspective from John Dempsey
Our Orange County Unified Development Ordinances (UDOs) need to be reviewed and re-written to be in compliance with current scientific research. This is necessary in order to protect our watersheds from Urban Stream Syndrome, the universally observed degradation of streams and rivers draining urban development. Lifting zoning restrictions to allow for higher density, market rate development will invariably contribute to Urban Stream Syndrome and lead directly to the degradation of our water resources.
Until such time as our UDOs and policies incorporate current, science-based, Best Management Practices for watershed protections, citizens should demand that their elected officials preserve current zoning. It is particularly important that we preserve RB, AR, R-1 and R-2 zoning. This is the only way currently available to us to steward water resources for our future generations. Simply put, until there is appropriate, science-based reform incorporated into our development ordinances and policies we need to protect our land from up-zoning.
This rampant and wholesale rezoning of land is now taking place throughout the Triangle area. It has brought little, or no, affordable housing but it has condemned the Haw and the Eno/Neuse Rivers to future environmental decline. This is because our current building policies do not require development practices that actually protect water resources based on the current research.
Chapel Hills is now busy planning to extend water and sewer towards Pittsboro, along the 15-501 corridor south of the Southern Village community. They are asking fellow signatories to the Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary Agreement (WASMPABA) for permission to rewrite that agreement and push down towards the Haw River.
Hillsborough, Carrboro and Orange County, their fellow signatories on WASMPBA, should all respectfully deny that request until such time when Chapel Hill’s development requirements incorporate responsible and real water resource protections.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
