Alamance commissioners approve Phillippe LCID landfill permit after contested hearing

The Alamance County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the intent-to-construct permit for the Phillippe LCID landfill after a night of heated public comment and competing legal arguments.

Residents who live near the proposed site urged commissioners to deny the application, saying the project conflicts with the county Unified Development Ordinance (HIDO/UDO). Calandra Salo, a direct abutter, told the board the operator’s plans place an access road and areas of operations within 90 feet of nearby homes and therefore fail to meet required setbacks. “This is not about anybody’s character… It’s about the letter of the law,” Salo said.

Opposition counsel Bob Hornick urged denial on three grounds: that the 1,500-foot access drive functions as part of the area of operations and therefore triggers operation-setback requirements; that the site includes land-clearing and processing activities that meet the UDO’s definition of a Class 3 use (which carries larger buffers than Class 1 inert-debris landfills); and that the application is incomplete because it omits existing on-site uses such as burning, composting and crushing that could constitute prohibited co-location of regulated uses.

Applicant counsel Paul Koontz told the board that state agencies had reviewed road access and that the North Carolina Department of Transportation had already made improvements on Clap Mill Road in advance of the permit application. Koontz said the traffic-impact analysis used conservative, worst-case assumptions and described a staged development of the site.

Planning staff reminded the board that the planning board voted 6–1 to recommend approval after its review and that the commissioners’ role at this stage is to determine whether the application complies with the UDO. County Attorney Stevens said the ordinance is ambiguous in parts and that the board would need to resolve those interpretive questions as part of its decision.

Commissioners debated whether the long access driveway should be treated as an internal operations roadway (and therefore subject to operation setbacks and stream-buffer rules) or as a driveway connecting the site to a state-maintained road. After discussion, Commissioner Thompson moved to approve the permit and Commissioner Powell seconded; the motion carried.

Commissioners and staff noted the ambiguity in the ordinance and warned the decision could be appealed: County Attorney Stevens told the board that differing interpretations of the HIDO could end up in court. Staff explained that if the permit is approved here, the next step is an operations-permit review under Section 6.5.4 of the HIDO.

Residents and the opposition team said they were disappointed and warned they would pursue further action. Supporters of the permit said the county and state review processes and prior local LCID approvals provide a regulatory path forward. The board took no additional conditions on the record at the time of the vote; the permit will proceed to the operations phase under the ordinance.

The commission then moved on to other agenda items.