StopChathamNorth
To the Residents of Briar Chapel,
We hope everyone is staying healthy during this challenging time. There is a lot going on right now, so we wanted to be sure to keep you up-to-date.
Legal Update
On 5/1/2020, ONSWC filed testimony with the NCUC: Testimony for Lee Bowman, Testimony for Mike Myers and Testimony for John McDonald. Currently, the petitions for intervention by StopChathamNorth and the Briar Chapel Community Association (BCCA) have been approved.
On 5/7/2020, the Fearrington Homeowners Association filed a Petition to Intervene. We believe that the addition of Fearrington Village residents and FHA strengthen our opposition to the application.
All of the approved petitioners will have an opportunity to file rebuttal testimony to the NCUC by 5/15/2020. We are actively working with our attorney, Mr. Dwight Allen, to prepare this testimony.
The evidentiary hearing is still scheduled for Tuesday, June 16th. Given the uncertainties around public meetings during the coronavirus, we expect that this hearing date will likely be delayed. We will keep you posted. For more information on the pending application and our petitions, go to Docket W-1300 Sub 55.
On 4/22/2020 ONSWC-Chatham North and Fitch Creations signed a second Amended Purchase Agreement for the purchase of FCI wastewater assets by ONSWC - Chatham North. Notable changes made in this amendment, include: no rate increase restrictions on Fearrington Village residents and elimination of tap fees to Fitch Creations.
If you have information that you want to share with SCN’s legal counsel, please email your information to mailto:STOPCHATHAMNORTH@gmail.com.
Williams Corner Public Hearing
We understand that the public hearing for the Williams Corner project is tentatively planned for the June CC BOC meeting, depending on whether they can get approval for a new process for remote public hearings that will be discussed at their May 18th CC BOC meeting.
As a reminder, the Williams Corner rezoning project includes a proposal to use ONSWC WWTP (Briar Chapel) for offsite treatment and discharge of Williams Corner wastewater. Due to the coronavirus, the public hearing for this proposal has been delayed. SCN is firmly against the use of Briar Chapel’s WWTP by any development or community outside of Briar Chapel.
We’ll keep you posted when the public hearing is rescheduled and will likely ask your help in submitting letters to our Chatham County Commissioners at that time.
Irrigation Has Started
ONSWC/Envirolink have started irrigation in some of our more remote areas within Briar Chapel. There have been several reports from residents of overirrigation occurring in these more remote areas.
ONSWC/Envirolink has delayed starting irrigation in our common areas, but we expect that irrigation will begin in our common areas soon.
· Briar Chapel Parkway medians
· Boulder Park area (common spaces and residences)
· Great Meadow Park area
· Briar Commons area
· Pollard Middle School area
ONSWC is also seeking approval from NCDEQ to add chlorine to the spray irrigation lines once spraying begins. This has not yet been approved.
Please contact us at mailto:stopchathamnorth@gmail.com if you experience any strong odors, discolored irrigation, oversaturation, pooling of irrigation water, runoff of irrigation water into storm drains/ponds/creeks, or sinkholes caused by the irrigation system. Video and pictures are helpful.
It’s time to Document our Concerns
Thank you for documenting your complaints, concerns or questions to Envirolink. While we regret that our residents are experiencing these issues, we believe this documentation will make a difference in showing that Briar Chapel residents have serious concerns that have been underreported.
It’s important to document any concerns or complaints that you personally experience with the Briar Chapel wastewater system (odor, runoff, spills, spray effluent pooling). Just a simple email works. If your concern can be documented with a picture (e.g., spills, spray effluent pooling), please attach any pictures you’ve taken of the incident to your email. It is imperative that we continue this effort. We also know that you experience some of these conditions over and over (i.e., odor) but again it is important to document these concerns each time you experience them.
When you have a complaint, Envirolink asks that you call their customer service number 252-235-4900. Please do so. To make sure your complaint is documented, we ask that you also email your concern to lbowman@envirolinkinc.com and copy (cc) us at STOPCHATHAMNORTH@gmail.com. Your concern will only be tracked if you send the email.
Fundraising
Total contributions to date (as of 5/7/2020): $31,414.79
To date we have spent: $5,269.45 ($5,000 is our initial attorney fee which we have not yet used up)
Total number of contributors: 337
We’d like to thank everyone who has already donated towards the cost of legal representation. These funds will be used to pay for our attorney’s representation at the NCUC hearing through to final decision. If you haven’t had a chance to make a donation yet, please consider doing this.
You can donate via PayPal by using this link:
https://paypal.me/STOPCHATHAMNORTHNC?locale.x=en_US
If you prefer not to use PayPal:
You can write a check to: STOPCHATHAMNORTH and mail it to: STOPCHATHAMNORTH in care of Terri Burrell, 78 Middleton Place, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 or simply drop the check at Terri’s house.
We are maintaining a full accounting of these funds and will return any unused funds to all homeowners who contribute on a prorated basis. Thank you again for contributing. If we all work together, we have a better chance of achieving our goals.
StopChathamNorth
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Mission Statement
StopChathamNorth is an unincorporated non-profit association representing concerned homeowners within Briar Chapel. StopChathamNorth does NOT support a regional wastewater treatment plant within the residential community of Briar Chapel. We are aware that there are a number of new communities surrounding Briar Chapel that are planning to utilize our WWTP, in addition to the current proposal to add Fearrington Village to our WWTP. We are opposed to all of these plans to expand Briar Chapel’s WWTP for uses outside of the Briar Chapel residential community. We also believe that the WWTP and ONSWC must be fully compliant with all governance and regulatory guidelines to ensure operations do not create nuisance, unhealthy or hazardous conditions for Briar Chapel residents.
For more information: www.stopchathamnorth.com