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Orange County
Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
May 12, 2014
Orange County West Campus Office Building, Hillsborough
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PRESENT: Jan Sassaman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Donna Lee Jones, Steve
Niezgoda, Rebecca Ray, Lydia Wegman, David Welch
ABSENT: Loren Hintz, David Neal, Jeanette O’Connor, Gary Saunders (arrived; had to leave)
STAFF: Rich Shaw, Tom Davis GUEST: Bill Kaiser
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I. Call to Order – Sassaman called the meeting to order at 7:40 pm. Sassaman
introduced Bill Kaiser who is expected to be reappointed to the CFE by the BOCC.
II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – There were no changes or additions.
III. Approval of Minutes – Sassaman asked for comments on the minutes for April 14.
Niezgoda motioned to approve as written; Cada seconded. Approved unanimously.
IV. Rural Curbside Recycling Program update – Sassaman reported on what he
observed at the May 8 BOCC meeting. He read comments that he had presented in
support of the proposed solid waste service tax district. Sassaman said the board of
commissioners took no action, but would revisit the issue at a May 13 work session.
CFE members discussed the pros and cons for the tax district. Wegman asked whether
the County might consider imposing the fee despite the threat of a possible lawsuit.
Nobody knew whether that was likely to happen. Sassaman encouraged members to
attend the work session to learn how this matter would be decided.
V. State of the Environment 2014 – Shaw reported on the status of the report, and he
handed out a list of tasks needed to complete each section (Attachment 3). Sassaman
asked for volunteers to take charge of some of the items better suited for CFE member
involvement. Ray reported on the additional work she had done to improve the symbols
for conveying the status and trend for each environmental indicator. Ray said she would
provide the final symbols to the staff for them to incorporate into the document.
Sassaman asked Shaw to send out a link for members to review Draft #9 of the report
once he had incorporated recent comments on the Land and Air & Energy sections.
VI. Environmental Summit – Shaw provided a summary of the CFE’s planning thus far
(Attachment 4) for an Environmental Summit to be held in fall 2014 at the Maple View
Farm Agricultural Education Center. He thanked members for agreeing to delay the
event from the original May 31 date.
Shaw asked for volunteers to identify potential dates in September/October that would
not conflict with a lot of other major events. Wegman offered to help with that, and said
she and other summit committee members (O’Connor, Ray, and Hintz) would also help
to identify potential panelists. Shaw reminded CFE members that they had agreed on
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invasive species and water resources as general panel topics, which will be refined
depending on who can be lined up to make presentations. These talks would
complement an overarching subject of climate change presented by Dr. Christensen.
Sassaman suggested Don Francisco (UNC Chapel Hill) to speak on water issues. Cada
recommended Avner Vengosh (Duke) be asked to discuss the hydraulic fracturing
(“fracking”) issues for this area. Kaiser recommended asking Mike Kunz (NC Botanical
Garden) to discuss invasive plant species. Someone else suggested that Judd Edeburn
be asked to discuss forest management issues.
Shaw reviewed other logistics that had been discussed thus far. Niezgoda
recommended using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise.
Sassaman asked staff and CFE members to report back at the June meeting.
VII. Committee Meetings – The CFE chose not to hold committee meetings.
VIII. Updates and Information Items – Information on the following subjects was provided
and selected items were summarized by staff: a) Orange County Community Giving
Fund, b) Nature of Orange photo contest, c) OWASA forest management at Buckhorn
Road, d) proposed NC rules for fracking, e) potential changes to UDO allowing clustering
in Rural Buffer, f) proposed changes to federal jurisdiction for wetlands, g) Chatham Park
(Pittsboro) public hearings, and h) Triangle Land Conservancy receives $1 million.
IX. Adjournment – Sassaman adjourned the meeting at 8:45 pm.
Summary by Rich Shaw, DEAPR Staff