UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Union County Commissioners received an earful Monday night from neighbors worried about what they might smell if a sewage facility is built next door.
The county planning board recommended the plot of land off Ridge Road east of Indian Trail be rezoned and eventually developed for a wastewater treatment plant. County staff say the other treatment plants in the county are at capacity.
Neighbors think that idea stinks and for the first time, they got to share their feelings with local leaders.
“We will voice our discontent by voting you out,” said one woman in a room overflowing with opposition.
The first public hearing on rezoning the land drew an overcapacity crowd.
Twenty speakers shared their concerns: health and safety, noise and additional traffic. The area is also a flood plane and additional water flowing from the plant may only make problems more severe, neighbors said.
Not to mention the stench.
“It’s going to smell,” one man said.
A point which city staff cannot deny. It is sewage after all.
Homeowners said residents near existing plants knowingly moved there.
“The way you folks are going about it, we don’t get a choice and it’s not right,” one person said.
City staff said there are few other options left in Union County that meet the state and environmental requirements needed to build a facility like this and going without another wastewater facility isn’t an option.
Still, these neighbors want this plan flushed.
“I am begging you to say no to this,” a man said.
No vote was taken on Monday. The next meeting on the rezoning will be Nov. 7.
Channel 9′s Genevieve Curtis will continue to follow all the developments.
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