20061203 Ver 1_Public Notice Comments_20060623

RLK
June 20, 2006
Mr. Dan Blaisdell, P.E.
Assistant Chief, Engineering Branch
Construction Grants and Loans Section
North Carolina Division of Water Quality
1633 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1633
Ms. Cyndi Karoly
North Carolina Division of Water Quality
1650 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1650
Mr. Monte Matthews D ~~~l~
Raleigh Regulatory Field Office ~-! ' ~'
6508 Falls of Neuse Road, Suite 120 •1~~i ~ ~ Z006
Raleigh, NC 2615
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Dear Messrs. Blaisdell & Matthews,
Ms. Karoly:
This letter is in response to the Western Wake Partners draft EIS to
construct a sewage plant in New Hill.
While doing research on the proposed sewage plant in New Hill, I
found the following:
~ 113A-3. Declaration of State environmental policy.
The General Assembly of North Carolina, recognizing the
profound influence of man's activity on the natural environment,
and desiring, in its role as trustee for future generations, to assure
that an environment of high quality will be maintained for the
health and well-being of all, declares that it shall be the
continuing policy of the State of North Carolina to conserve and
protect its natural resources and to create and maintain
conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive
harmony. Further, it shall be the policy of the State to seek, for
all of its citizens, safe, healthful, productive and aesthetically
pleasing surroundings; to attain the widest range of beneficial
3o~-Kei,Ly • 3020 Olw~~arwvl2aad~ • ,gpP,ac., NC 27502

uses of the environment without degradation, risk to health or
safety; and to preserve the important historic and cultural
elements of our common inheritance. (1971, c. 1203, s. 3.)
Please note the last part of the last sentence, "to preserve the
important historic and cultural elements of our common inheritance". These
few words have a tremendous meaning to the citizens of North Carolina, and
should be used to drive home the message to the Western Wake Partners that
building a sewage plant in the center of our town will not be permitted.
As shown in Attachments 1 through 12, the proposed site is adjacent
to the New Hill Historic District; is across the street from the New Hill
Baptist Church, cemetery and playground; is adjacent to several New Hill
Historic properties; is very close to two rest homes; is behind the First
Baptist Church of New Hill and it's cemetery; and is surrounded by many
low income, elderly and minority residents.
I am very concerned that by placing the sewage plant in the center of
New Hill, the residents who currently own historic properties adjacent to the
site will let the properties fall into disrepair, as they will have no incentive to
maintain the properties. After all, why would anyone want to maintain a
property that is next door to a sewage plant, especially considering the
traffic, lights, noise and smells a sewage plant generates.
In case you don't think sewage plants smell, please note many articles
have been written about the stench around Cary's current sewage plants (see
Attachment 13). Because Cary has been designated the lead agent for the
Western Wake Partners, and because Cary has demonstrated their
incompetence at managing sewage plants, the EIS submitted by the Western
Wake Partners should not be approved.
At the January 24, 2006 SW Wake Planning Meeting held at the CC
Jones Building in Apex, Scott Ramage, Cary's Planning Department, made
numerous statements about how the Town of Cary worked with the residents
of Green Level for more than two years on ways to protect the Green Level
Historic District. This effort has resulted in the protection for both the
Green Level Historic District, and the surrounding property which can only
be used for residential or open spaces. Industrial uses are not permitted in
and around the Green Level Historic District.
Cary's Planning Department should be commended for recognizing
the importance of historical and cultural issues. The fact that Cary has
worked with Green Level, another unincorporated community, to protect its
historic district highlights the value placed on these factors. However, Cary
30~- KeUy • 3020 Olw~ ~at~vw 12ac~caL • ,4pe~, NC 2 7502

and the Western Wake Partners failed to extended these same safeguards to
the unincorporated community of New Hill, and for this reason, the EIS
submitted by the Western Wake Partners should not be approved.
Because the Western Wake Partners chose a site in the center of our
community when there are thousands of acres of land available one mile
down the road on Progress Energy property -property that was taken from
the residents of New Hill in the late 1960s and early 1970s -property that was
taken for utility purposes; the Western Wake Partners should not have been
allowed to condemn additional land for their sewage plant and should not be
allowed to construct this sewage facility in the middle of our community.
There is a lot of history in New Hill, and this history should not be
destroyed by placing a sewage plant in the middle of the community.
Sincerely,
~~~~
Attachments
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The News & Observer
March 9, 2004
Column: Road Worrier
Cary commuters holding their noses
Author: Bruce Siceloff; Staff Writer
Edition: Final
Section: News
Page: B 1
Index Terms:
TRANSPORTATION
Road Worrier
Estimated printed pages: 2
Article Text:
What is that funky smell? Every morning, it hovers over Interstate 40 near Lake Crabtree, waiting for Ronald S.
Cornell and the four North Raleigh kids he carpools to Cary Academy.
Every morning, they try not to breathe.
"When we're coming down the hill toward Harrison Avenue, we try to remember to turn the car to interior air only, at
the bottom of the hill," Cornell says. "It's going up that hill that you get it worst."
Alas, it is just what the nose knows it must be: a sewage treatment mishap.
Just west of Lake Crabtree and south of I-40, inside the North Cary Water Reclamation Facility, down at the bottom
of a 2-million-gallon sludge vat, an air pipe is broken.
The plant turns raw waste into sludge or biosolids, which are trucked to farms as fertilizer. It produces water that is
clean enough for irrigation, cooling and industrial uses.
Since the break was discovered in early February, the town has been working to empty the sludge vat so the pipe can
be fixed. That will take until the end of March. Until then, the sewage process isn't working quite the way it should.
Detailed updates on progress at the North Cary plant are posted online at www.townofcary.org/ aboutcary/odor.htm,
along with information about the town's long-term approach to pungent problems that have drawn previous
complaints from I-40 commuters.
"Tt's pretty srr~elly stuff," says Kim Fisher, Cary public works and utilities director. "We have been trying to deal with
odor issues at the plant for quite a number of years."
Attachment 13

WRAL.com
Cary Considered Great Place To Live, But What's That Smell?
POSTED: 7:33 p.m. EST February 10, 2004
UPDATED: 8:00 p.m. EST February 10, 2004
CARP, N.C. -- WRAL viewers have called, e-mailed and told us in person -- something
stinks in Cary.
The town, known as one of the best in the United States, is not about to back away from
the stench.
It hits people when they are driving on Interstate 40, just west of Harrison Avenue.
Those who have experienced it can vividly describe it.
"It smells like my 18-month-old daughter's diaper in a trash can somewhere in the
house," David Morken said," and I don't know which one, but I have to go looking for what
waste basket that diaper is in."
Morken's description was pretty close to right on.
The smell that has people talking comes from Cary's Wastewater Treatment Facility off Old
Reedy Creek Road.
Driving by is bad enough. But try working, or working out -- near it.
"I own a business directly across from the plant," Morken said. "We smell it every day.
"Depending on the weather, it is worse some days than others. But I also run at lunch,
and, as you go by, you can't escape it."
Said Cary Utilities Director Rob Bonne: "Certain types of weather patterns cause the odor
to accumulate rather than disperse."
Bonne said the solution to the stink is a Biosolids Dryer, an $11 million facility.
Construction starts next month on West Lake Road.
The dryer will turn all the smelly sludge into neat, dry, non-smelly fertilizer pellets.
Cary is known for cul-de-sacs, good schools and good shopping. But now, something else
could put the town on the map, or in the ground in some places. The town plans to sell
Attachment 13

the finished product as yard fertilizer.
Milwaukee makes a fertilizer called Mil-organite. One day, hardware stores in the
Triangle may be selling Car-organite.
Cary officials said the town could earn up to $70,000 a year on fertilizer sales.
As for the current situation with this sewage smell, town officials say they are working on
It.
In the meantime, everyone admits that Cary's sewage definitely stinks.
Reporter: Mark Roberts
Photographer: Gil Hollingsworth
Online Producer: Paul Ensslin
Copyright 2004 by WRAL.com. All rights reserved.
Attachment 13

NBC 17
Cary Hopes New Plant Will Ease Sewage Stench
Plant Will Turn Sludge Into Fertilizer
POSTED: 6:07 pm EST March 22, 2004
CARY, N.C. -- As the town of Cary grows, so does its sewage needs. Some
say the stench coming from sewage buildup around Harrison Avenue is also
Growing.
"The smell out here near Harrison can be almost offensive," Mayor Ernie McAlister
said.
Cary's two waste water treatment plants are working overtime trying to handle
more than 65,000 gallons of sewage a day.
"You have sludge that needs to be treated and that's what creates the smell,"
McAlister said.
Cary officials say the solution may be turning the sludge into fertilizer pellets.
Monday, Cary broke ground on the region's first system that will convert
waste into high-quality fertilizer. The state of the art plant will cost $13
million. A federal grant is helping to pay around $1 million of the cost.
"You always look for win-win solutions and this seems to me the genuine
article," Rep. David Price, D-Chapel Hill, said. "You're talking about
reducing the volume of waste and talking about a product that has an
economic value."
"The pellets will be commercially valuable for farmers," McAllister said. "It's
taking something with no value and adding value to it."
The plant is expected to come online in 2005. It could generate 50,000
pounds of fertilizer everyday.
Copyright 2004 by NBC. 7. com. All rights reserved.
Attachment 13

The News & Observer
Apri129, 2006
Hidden jewel of a neighborhood tarnished by foul odor
Janell Ross, Staff Writer
When Diana Murphy moved to a new subdivision off Sunnybrook Road in Raleigh in 2003, she was sure
she had found an "undiscovered jewel."
Her neighborhood is full of young families and older retirees. It is flanked by dense trees, and it sits 10
minutes from Murphy's downtown job.
But two years ago, when construction on the U.S. 64/264 Bypass began, an unkind aroma began to
sometimes hang in the air.
"Sewer, definitely sewer smells," said Murphy, who is married and has a daughter. "I don't know why it
hasn't been solved."
As it turns out, Murphy lives in an area with some potential for obnoxious olfactory experiences.
Topsoil disturbed during construction can release certain sewerlike smells, said H. Dale Crisp, Raleigh's
public utilities director. Murphy's subdivision sits near a capped and now closed city landfill where
sewer-type smells can also sometimes escape, Crisp added.
$ut the most likely culprits are the two wastewater lift stations less than three miles from Murphy's home.
Murphy has called at least three times since the problem began. The trouble is, the smelly problem is usually
worse at night. By the time city offices open, the odor is often gone, Murphy said.
The lift station that sits less than a mile from Murphy's home collects wastewater from about one-third of the
city, elevates it and then moves it downhill to the city's treatment plant in far southeastern Wake County.
And like a soda after a good shake, agitated wastewater has more gases.
The city tries to suppress those odors in the interest of being a good neighbor, Crisp said.
A contractor soon will install a monitor that will measure sewer gases around the clock. When it is in place,
Crisp said, it should help the city feed the lift station the right odor-controlling chemical blend.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any
manner.
© Copyright 2006, The News & Observer Publishing Company
A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Attachment 13