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Named event or history

Orange County landfill campaign

Siting, expansion and closure of the landfill, and the neighborhood’s demands.

The Eubanks Road landfill opened beside the Rogers Road community in 1972; four decades of expansions, lawsuits and the neighborhood's demands ended with its closure in 2013.

12 indexed works are connected with this event. 1 held at OCPL →

The Orange County landfill on Eubanks Road from the air
The Orange County landfill on Eubanks Road from the air

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Rogers Road

Pearce, Emily Eidenier · 2009

Emily Eidenier Pearce's history of Rogers Road, the historically African American neighborhood on the edge of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and of what happened to it after Orange County opened its landfill next door in 1972. Drawing on interviews with residents, the book records the neighborhood's origins, family life, churches and customs, and then the environmental and social burdens of decades beside the landfill. Privately issued in 2009, 298 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Sanitary landfills -- Social aspects -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

Report on socioeconomic and demographic data for the Orange regional landfill and the four alternative landfill sites that are being considered for a new landfill

Town of Chapel Hill Planning Dept · 1996

A June 19, 1996, report by the Town of Chapel Hill Planning Department presenting 1990 census data on the areas around the Orange regional landfill and four alternative sites under consideration for a new landfill, prepared under North Carolina General Statutes 160A-325 and 153A-136(c), which call for such review before a landfill is sited.

Why this is here: Its title names this subject.

UNC

Regeneration of a wasteland : design alternatives for the reuse of the Orange County, NC landfill

Buck, Kathleen King · 2001

Kathleen King Buck's master of landscape architecture project at North Carolina State University, proposing design alternatives for reusing the Orange County landfill site. Completed in 2001 in 63 leaves with illustrations, plans and maps, several of them in color. Topics include earthwork fills in the county along with the design, construction and environmental aspects of waste disposal sites.

Why this is here: Its title names this subject.

Out of sight, out of mind : a contingent valuation analysis of the siting of sanitary landfills

Woo, Lillian G. · 1996

Lillian G. Woo applied contingent valuation, the method economists use to price goods that are not traded, to the siting of sanitary landfills, with Orange County among the North Carolina cases. Environmental policy, public goods valuation and landfill location are the subjects. A 26 page landfill survey sits in a pocket at the end, and the bibliography runs from leaf 249 to 259. Dated 1996.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

UNC

Report of preliminary engineering evaluations : Orange regional landfill site search

1995 · Joyce Engineering, Inc.

Joyce Engineering of Greensboro prepared this February 1995 report on preliminary engineering evaluations for the Orange regional landfill site search, examining candidate sites for a new landfill. One volume of various pagings with illustrations and maps, issued in a loose leaf binder. Topics include sanitary landfills, sanitary engineering and engineering geology in Orange County.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

UNC

Economic cost analysis in MSW landfill siting : the Orange County case study

Henrikson, Brett · 1994

Brett Henrikson's 1994 honors paper at Duke University works through the economics of siting a municipal solid waste landfill, using Orange County as its case study. Topics include the location and the costs of sanitary landfills, both in the county and in the United States generally. A typescript of 41 numbered leaves followed by 74 more that are unnumbered.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County -- Costs -- Case studies.

Show 6 more

Supplemental information packet : Orange County landfill site search

1994 · Joyce Engineering, Inc.

A supplemental packet of information for the Orange County landfill site search, dated 26 September 1994 and prepared by Joyce Engineering of Greensboro. One volume of various pagings with illustrations and maps, four further pages of maps inserted. It belongs to the run of consultant reports produced while the county looked for a regional landfill site.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

UNC

Mass political participation in the local context : a case study

Peek, Leigh A. · 1992

Leigh A. Peek's case study of the Coalition to Remove Site OC-5, the group that organized against a proposed municipal solid waste landfill in Orange County. The paper uses the fight as an example of mass political participation at the local level, concerning land use, political participation and sanitary landfills in the county. Dated 1992, bibliography on leaves 29 to 30.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

UNC

Report of additional services to the landfill site search : Orange regional landfill

1991 · Joyce Engineering, Inc.

Dated 11 November 1991, a report of additional services carried out by Joyce Engineering of Greensboro in the search for a site for the Orange regional landfill. One volume of various pagings with illustrations and maps, issued in a spiral binding. Topics include the location of sanitary landfills and engineering geology in Orange County.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

UNC

Survey of solid waste management activities, Region J, North Carolina

Triangle J Council of Governments; North Carolina. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development · 1980 · Triangle J Council of Governments

Triangle J Council of Governments surveyed solid waste activities across Region J in 1980, taking in Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Orange and Wake counties. Refuse collection, disposal practice and sanitary landfills are treated county by county. Preparation was financed in part by a state planning assistance grant.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sanitary landfills -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

UNC

Michael R. Nelson papers, circa 1890-2012

Nelson, Michael R., 1963- · 1890

Roughly 2,000 items in 6.5 linear feet kept as the papers of Michael R. Nelson, born 1963, dated from about 1890 to 2012, collection 70140 in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC. Topics include politics and government in Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County, campaign paraphernalia, and gay activists and politicians in North Carolina, naming Joseph A. Herzenberg, 1941 to 2007.

Why this is here: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

UNC

Orange County Landfill (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Orange County's landfill, followed through newspaper clippings, photocopied articles, promotional materials, reports and maps. Undated folder in box 32 of the Carrboro and Orange County series, Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).

Why this is here: Its title names this subject.

In the chronology

Dated events connected with this event: sixteen of 31, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 31 dated events in the chronology →

Earliest first. Scroll sideways, or use the arrows.

16 dated events
  1. Rogers Road landfill opens

    Founding or opening · Chapel Hill

    Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County opened a shared, unlined county landfill on Eubanks Road, built in late 1972 beside the historically Black Rogers-Eubanks community, whose residents were told it would close after about ten years. It was expanded repeatedly and ran for 41 years, closing in June 2013.

    Part of Rogers Road environmental justice · 54 events

    People: Howard N. Lee

  2. New Hope Improvement Association sues to stop the Eubanks Road landfill

    Law, policy or court · Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill

    Opponents of the landfill formed the New Hope Improvement Association, which drew about 500 members, and filed a lawsuit in late September 1972. The suit was denied in early October.

  3. Orange County begins discussing the first expansion of the Eubanks Road landfill

    Law, policy or court · Eubanks Road landfill

    Ten years after the landfill opened, the county began discussing an expansion even though it had estimated the site would be full by 1985. Residents had been told the landfill would close after about ten years.

  4. Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County begin a countywide search for a new landfill site

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    The three governing boards started a countywide search for the next sanitary landfill, carried out with a citizens' Landfill Search Committee and an engineering consultant. The Greene Tract, bought in 1984 for landfill use, was screened but not made a finalist.

  5. Chapel Hill authorizes buying land beside the landfill to widen its buffer

    Property or economic transaction · Eubanks Road landfill

    The council unanimously authorized the town manager to buy the 4.05-acre Wilson property adjoining the Eubanks Road landfill at $6,000 an acre to expand a minimal buffer, subject to approval by Carrboro and Orange County.

  6. Orange Regional Landfill takes Hurricane Fran yard waste free as Chapel Hill faces tens of thousands of tons of debris

    Health or relief action · Chapel Hill; Orange Regional Landfill

    The Orange Regional Landfill on Eubanks Road accepted yard waste at no charge until further notice. Town Manager Cal Horton estimated Chapel Hill had 25,000 to 40,000 tons of fallen limbs and trees and said the town would eventually remove curbside debris, while urging residents to haul debris to the landfill themselves.

  7. Orange County chooses to keep expanding the Eubanks Road landfill instead of opening a new site

    Law, policy or court · Eubanks Road landfill

    With site OC-17 blocked, the county announced it would expand the existing landfill rather than close it. A new construction and demolition landfill was later built on the north side of Eubanks Road.

  8. Duke University easement to NASA stalls landfill candidate site OC-17

    Property or economic transaction · Chapel Hill

    Chapel Hill's manager reported that Duke University had filed an easement in favor of NASA on candidate site OC-17, leaving the towns unable to test the land. The council voted 8 to 0 to have the town attorney write to the U.S. Attorney and called an Assembly of Governments for October 22, 1997.

  9. Chapel Hill backs countywide funding to extend water lines to the Rogers Road neighborhood

    Law, policy or court · Rogers Road, Chapel Hill

    By a 7 to 2 vote the council said water service lines for the community around the landfill should be paid for from a countywide revenue source so that all county residents share the cost, and opposed using the sales tax for those benefits.

  10. Chapel Hill lets Orange County commissioners pick the next construction and demolition landfill site

    Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill

    With the existing construction and demolition landfill expected to fill by summer 2000, the council voted 9 to 0 to let the Board of Commissioners select an in-county replacement site on its behalf, citing time pressure and the expected transfer of solid waste authority to the county.

  11. Robert Campbell petitioned Chapel Hill for bus service to the Rogers Road neighborhood

    Protest or organizing · Rogers Road

    Minister Robert Campbell asked the Chapel Hill council to extend free transit service to the Rogers Road community, noting that it lacked sidewalks and sewer service and that children walked along the landfill's heavy truck route. He suggested rerouting underused Airport Road buses.

    People: Robert Campbell

    Subject: Chapel Hill Transit

  12. Orange County commissioners vote to put a waste transfer station at the Eubanks Road landfill

    Law, policy or court · Eubanks Road landfill

    The board voted unanimously to develop a solid waste transfer station at the landfill site, following its Solid Waste Advisory Board's recommendation, over objections from Rogers Road residents. The landfill was then expected to fill in 2010.

    People: Mike Nelson · Robert Campbell · Valerie Foushee

  13. Commissioners drop Eubanks Road and choose two other transfer station candidates

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    Conceding that the 2007 choice had not adequately weighed its effect on Rogers Road, the commissioners voted 5 to 1 to pursue two other sites, the 143-acre Howell property and an OWASA tract in Bingham Township.

  14. Orange County commissioners raised the landfill tipping fee to pay for Rogers Road remediation

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    Commissioners raised the tipping fee from $52 to $57 a ton to create a remediation fund of about $50,000 to $60,000 a year for water and sewer connections, cleanup of illegal dumping and a community center in Rogers Road. The county also moved $750,000 out of its solid waste reserve for the same purpose. Chapel Hill and Carrboro objected to the timing of the fee.

    People: Robert Campbell · Mark Kleinschmidt

  15. Commissioners set the landfill's closing date and created the Historic Rogers Road Neighborhood Task Force

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    On the night the Orange County commissioners voted to close the landfill on June 30, 2013, they also authorized an eight-member task force, with two members each from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, the county and RENA, to recommend how to deliver sewer service and a community center and how to guard against displacement. An interim report was due that August and a final report to the Assembly of Governments on December 6, 2012.

    People: Penny Rich

    Subject: Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association

  16. Rogers Road landfill closes

    Closing or ending · Chapel Hill

    The landfill closed at noon on Saturday, June 29, 2013 after 41 years, with a ceremony at which Rogers Road residents symbolically locked the service entrance. The closure plan called for a synthetic cap covered with soil and vegetation, vented so that the county's methane recovery system, which feeds power to UNC buildings, could keep running.

    Part of Rogers Road environmental justice · 54 events

    People: Robert Campbell

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first.

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Research sources

Background context 3

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Search beyond the index 3

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Picture: The Orange County landfill on Eubanks Road from the air. Public domain. NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, through the USGS National Map

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