Ordinance to allow development

Residents of the Falls Lake area may soon have new neighbors, which some say will pose a threat to the region's water quality.

A proposed county ordinance governing development of watershed areas in Durham County would allow Treyburn and Eno Industrial Parks to pave and build within a mile of Falls Lake, located about 15 miles from Durham. The Falls Lake watershed covers an expanse of 770 square miles that includes parts of East Campus.

If adopted, proponents of industrial expansion will have overpowered environmentalists who have adamantly opposed this ordinance for 10 years. Most of the county commissioners support the ordinance, which is slated for approval Oct. 23. The Durham City Council passed a similar ordinance concerning watershed development two years ago.

Those in favor of the ordinance say that development will not harm the environment. "People hear the word industrial park and think it will be environmentally damaging," said County Commissioner Ed Devito. "That is absolutely not true."

Devito said that the developers are not producing anything toxic. "The runoff water is caught in a filter pool," he said. "Their runoff water is cleaner than if there was nothing there. It is environmentally safer than having houses there."

But others say that supporters are blinded by the chance for more industrial growth. "It is a matter of elected officials not being quite as careful to protect the drinking water," said County Commissioner Becky Heron, the sole commissioner who is against the proposal. "The other commissioners think that any kind of business is good business. They need to look a little farther than that."

A mistake made in the mapping of the Falls Lake area years ago is the source of this decade-long controversy concerning the ordinance. Seven miles of Falls Lake was left out of the map. "Had the maps been drawn correctly, this area would not be slated as industrial," Heron said.

Residents of Durham may not be affected initially by the implementation of the new ordinance, since Falls Lake now supplies only Raleigh's drinking water. But, with the explosion of growth in Research Triangle Park, Durham may soon be needing this reservoir for drinking water as well.

The Durham City/County Planning Department is using the results of a $150,000 report studying the effects of development on the water supply in the area, which concluded that the development will not harm Raleigh's water supply if the ordinance includes certain new provisions.

The proposed ordinance contains two environmental requirements. One, recommended in the study, would require an increased buffer of woods and vegetation around streams.

The second would give the Durham Development Review Board the authority to govern which manufacturing industries would be allowed in the watershed zone.

Under the new ordinance, developers could cover up to 40 percent of the land with impervious surfaces, while residents would only be allowed to cover up to nine percent (see graphic on page 1 for details).

Those in opposition said that the ordinance shows favoritism to developers of Treyburn and Eno Industrial Parks by allowing them to industrialize and commercialize the area.

"Laws should apply uniformly to all citizens," said James Clark of Save the Water, a local environmental organization. "It is clearly a violation of the 14th Amendment, the equal protection clause, that prohibits special favors. It is illegal and unconstitutional.."

Russ Odom, county attorney, disagreed. "Differential treatment is not always a violation of the equal protection clause if there is justification."

Heron said that the loss of a special permit requirement is a weak spot in the new ordinance. "I am not sure I will support this if it is left in the ordinance," she said. "The permit is the way the public can be heard."