StopChathamNorth (SCN)
To the Residents of Briar Chapel,
In this email you will find information about:
1. How to participate in the public hearing for Fearrington Preserve and Vickers Village proposals at August 16th Chatham County Board of Commissioners (CC BOC) meeting.
2. NCDEQ issues Notice of Violation (NOV) for unauthorized discharge of 345,000 gallons of reclaimed water onto Briar Chapel property and into Pokeberry Creek.
3. Updates on the Tri-Party Council.
Public Hearing Fearrington Preserve and Vickers Village
On August 16th at 6:00pm Chatham County Board of Commissioners (CC BOC) will hold public hearings at the Historic Chatham County Courthouse for applications from Fearrington Preserve and Vickers Village to extend the compact community map to include additional property from Fearrington Preserve and Vickers Village, allowing them to propose their developments under the Compact Community Ordinance (CCO). Both of these developments are contiguous to Briar Chapel property. Vickers Village’s plans include a wastewater (WW) facilitiy for their development. Fearrington Preserve has not yet finalized their plans for wastewater, but hopes to request a contiguous service area extension to connect to Briar Chapel’s WW system and if that fails, Fearrington Village’s WW system.
We sent information on Fearrington Preserve’s proposal to John McDonald (owner of the Briar Chapel WW system). We asked him if (based on past discussions) he continues to have no plans to expand further access to development outside of Briar Chapel to the Briar Chapel WW system. He responded, “To date we have turned away all inquiries about connecting to the Briar Chapel system. There are no current discussions with developers.” We genuinely appreciate his response and confirmation.
We have notified the BCCA of these proposals, but do not know whether they intend to make a public statement at the hearing. SCN will have a representative making a public statement that voices our concern that these proposals will result in a large, densely populated zone in NE Chatham County without an adequate wastewater solution for this part of Chatham County.
If you are interested in making a public statement, you must register for public input online selecting either Public Hearing 1 – for Congruus’s request for Fearrington Preserve or Public Hearing 2 – for Vickers-Bennett LLC’s request for Vickers Village. You can choose to either make your public statement in person (maximum statement of 3 minutes) or in writing by emailing your statement to Lindsay.ray@chathamcountync.gov. We think it is important for resident’s voices to be heard early in this process.
For those of you not aware of where these proposed developments are located. Fearrington Preserve owns the property that includes: Durham Farms (which backs up to Hawk Point Rd in Briar Chapel) runs down to Andrews Store Rd, across Andrews Store Rd along and behind the Chatham County Park and then down on the east and west sides of Parker Herndon Road (map). Vickers Village is located between Vickers Road and Jack Bennett Road along 15/501, across from the entrance to Briar Chapel (map). This proposal includes a private WWTP, two irrigation retention ponds and discharge using spray irrigation of reclaimed water.
NCDEQ Issues ONSWC Notice of Violation for Unauthorized Irrigation Discharge
This week NCDEQ issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) for an unauthorized irrigation discharge of 345,000 gallons that discharged on Briar Chapel property and into Pokeberry Creek (surface waters). This discharge was from an irrigation line flush point (located near Catullo Rd) that was turned on at 2pm July 11th and due to human error it was not turned off until reported on July 14th. Here’s video of the event: Video1, Video2, Video3.
We genuinely appreciate residents reporting these types of issues, but want to encourage residents to first notify ONSWC Customer Service at 877-511-2911 and then send us an email at stopchathamnorth@gmail.com so we can make sure these issues are documented and forwarded to all the appropriate parties. It is IMPORTANT to notify ONSWC so that they can immediately respond to emergencies.
Status Update on Tri-Party Agreement
Here’s the latest information we have on the status of the work outlined in the Tri-Party Agreement:
· Work on the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) expansion to 500,000 gpd is on schedule to be completed by the end of the year. NCDEQ has approved the permit to allow the odor control improvements to be added as part of this expansion.
· NC DEQ has issued the permit approving additional spray irrigation packages H, I and J which when constructed, certified and fully operational will provide up to 552,806 gpd capacity to our spray irrigation system. Package H covers property around the Western retention pond. This area will be heavily irrigated and will not allow trails in these spray irrigation areas. Packages I and J include: conversion of Encore homeowner irrigation from potable to reclaimed water, Encore common areas and the woods surrounding Encore, behind Cliffdale/Whispering Wind and the Sports Courts area. Note, the permit does not allow year round irrigation for some zones within the community and does not allow use of the irrigation system during major rain events or during freezing temperatures.
· The BCCA will do irrigation sampling and testing in Encore and other areas of the community.
· Newland was not able to provide engineering as-built plans for the sewer lines that run over Pokeberry Creek (originally installed under the creek but due to erosion have become aerial and unsupported). ONSWC is looking at situation to determine options.
· Work has begun on the SD-East Pump station to support connections from the commercial areas under development by Newland east and west of 15/501 near Taylor Road.
· The last meeting of the Tri-Party Council was August 10th. Meeting notes are not yet available from the July 13th meeting or the August 10th meeting.
Documenting our Concerns
We are extremely thankful for the information shared with us by BC residents. To date, residents have reported over 500 complaints about spills, odor conditions, irrigation and other issues.
When you have a complaint, please call ONSWC’s customer service number 877-511-2911. To make sure your complaint is documented, we ask that you also email your concern to us at STOPCHATHAMNORTH@gmail.com. We will make sure your complaint is documented and shared with all the appropriate parties (ONSWC, NCDEQ, BCCA, First Residential, Chip White).
Fundraising
Total amount donated: $51,966.85 (507 families contributing)
Spent to date: $42,603.06 (Legal: $35,317.50, Engineering Expert: $6,142.00, Administrative: $1,143.56)
We are maintaining a full accounting of these funds and will return any unused funds to all contributors taking into account the weighted average cost to contribution basis. Thank you again for contributing.
StopChathamNorth
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Mission Statement
StopChathamNorth is an incorporated non-profit 501(c)(4) social welfare 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 several new communities surrounding Briar Chapel that are planning to utilize 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 a nuisance, unhealthy or hazardous conditions for Briar Chapel residents.
For more information: www.stopchathamnorth.com