Residents press commissioners to block proposed 4115 Clap Mill Road landfill
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Several Southern Alamance residents urged the board to oppose a proposed 75-acre construction landfill at 4115 Clap Mill Road, citing traffic and road-safety risks, groundwater and air pollution worries, nearby concentration of disposal sites, and gaps in technical review.
Residents from Southern Alamance told the Board of Commissioners on Monday they oppose a proposed construction landfill at 4115 Clap Mill Road and urged the county to demand more technical study before permitting any expansion.
Speakers described narrow, curved local roads that they say were not designed for sustained heavy truck traffic and argued a large new operation would create safety hazards for neighbors and school buses. "It's very dangerous," said Linda Kirkpatrick, who lives on Flat Mill Road, citing recent widening of the site entrance, visible soot on nearby windows and proximity to a creek she fears could be polluted.
Matt Perpatrick, speaking for the Coble Township community, said the proposal would add a third or fourth disposal site within a two-mile radius and asked the board to require a geological impact study and a traffic analysis. "We're worried about the traffic," Perpatrick said, noting the tar-and-gravel roads and sharp turns on Clap Mill Road.
Opposition also focused on scale: Leslie Claire said the applicant is seeking a 75-acre site adjacent to smaller existing landfills and warned the owner holds adjacent parcels that could allow further expansion. Several speakers urged commissioners to treat Southern Alamance as at risk of becoming a disproportionate repository for regional waste.
An adjacent landowner, Joe Snyder, told commissioners he attended the planning meeting and voiced concerns about dust, noise and hours of operation but said he had voted against the specific proposed permit. Commissioners and the county manager said the planning board had requested additional information at its recent meeting and will revisit the application in January before returning any recommendation to the board.
Next steps: the planning board will reassess the application in January; the county manager said further information requested by the planning board must be supplied before the item moves to the commissioners for final action.