Wake County text change that puts drinking water at risk
Falls Lake at Highway 50/Creedmoor Road
Despite scathing comments from the public and significant
attention by the media, on April 5, 2010, the Wake County Board of
County Commissioners (BoCC) approved a text change to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that puts at risk the future of Falls Lake and
every other water supply with a connection to Wake County. The OA 03-09 amendment, brought forth by private property interests, was heard by
the BoCC at the
beginning of April and was opposed by the Neuse RIVERKEEPER® Foundation, WakeUp Wake County,
the City
of Raleigh, the Watershed
Protection Council, and a group of local residents.
This change does not the benefit Falls
Lake or Wake
County residents in
general, serves only private interests, and
risks opening the flood gates to a horde of environmentally
damaging
projects that will no longer be required to receive
appropriate
evaluation by the public.
Act Now!
The Neuse
RIVERKEEPER® Foundation will not stand for governance that neglects to protect our waters and we are willing to do what is necessary to ensure this poor decision is reversed. An appeal has been filed with the Wake County Superior Court and, while this is only the first legal hurdle, it will not be cheap and we need your help.Please help us ensure that Wake County has clean, plentiful waters for this and
future generations! Click the "Donate" button and join in the fight.
FallsLake, a Water Supply Reservoir and State Recreation Area, is already on the federal government's list of impaired waterways due to a high levels of pollutants.Today, most of the Lake suffers from algal blooms, high turbidy and low dissolved oxygen, caused by excess nutrients in the water.
In an effort to protect Wake County Water Supply Watersheds, such as FallsLake, the County passed rules setting residential-only restrictions for areas that drain to water supply reservoirs, meaning shopping centers as well as other large development projects are banned, for the most part.
This text change to the Unified Development Ordinance, misleadingly titled "Elimination and Redevelopment of Nonconforming Use," is an attempt to let nonconforming uses--properties that were already developed in a manner the code no longer allows--to redevelop without having to comply with this restriction. The specific property interests bringing this change forward is a lumber yard with plants to be converted into a large shopping center near Old Creedmoor Road and Highway 98 in northwest Wake County, a property in close proximity to Falls Lake.
For the following reasons, the proposed text change, OA 03-09, should have been denied.
The
text change sends a poor message to upstream communities whom we expect to
work with us in protecting FallsLake.FallsLake is already impaired, will be
expensive to clean up, and is the main drinking water source for over half
a million people in and surrounding WakeCounty.The Wake County the Board of
Commissioners must make responsible decisions regarding the protection of
the Lake or forgo their right to demand
that upstream communities do the same.
Since beneficial
commercial uses could be determined to be appropriate and allowed to occur
on this property through existing procedures there is no reason that the
change is required in order to protect the property owner's
interests.Failure to pass the
change does not constitute a
taking of private property.
The
broad language forwarded by the applicant opens the door to at least
another 10 similar activity centers throughout Wake County that are also
within the watershed of a drinking water supply reservoir.WakeCounty
has not disclosed what the impacts of this would be but, unquestionably, they
will affect your drinking water.
Approving
this project via text change does not ensure that environmental
protections discussed by the proponent will be implemented.Before this text change, approval by rezoning,
the conventional approach to a project of this sort, would include
conditions that require the
applicant to honor their word.
The Wake County Lumberyard developers are planning to convert to a shopping center
The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to reaffirm its
opposition to
commercial development in the Falls Lake watershed. Council members
took the action at its March 16 meeting in response to a text change
being considered by the Wake County
There are bad zoning cases, and then there are bad zoning cases like the
one involving Falls Lake that was approved Monday by the Wake County
Board of Commissioners...
The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to oppose commercial
development in the Falls Lake watershed. Council members took the action
at its March 2 meeting in response to a proposal being considered by
the Wake County...
The Wake County Board of Commissioners might allow
commercial development in the
Falls Lake watershed, a scenario that environmental groups
and Raleigh city
staff warned could impede efforts to clean the polluted
waters of the
lake...
