Vaughan Corroborates Hammer’s Claim
From Greensboro City Councilwoman, Nancy Vaughan, commenting at Thinking Out Loud:
I have been unable to have a role in the landfill discussion due to a personal conflict, and I am legally limited in what I can say. However, I was shocked to read in “The Rhino” that “When the city annexed and zoned the land that makes up part of Phase IV and Phase V on July 16, 2002, condition 17 of the zoning ordinance states, ‘None of this property can ever be used as a landfill cell.’ The land was to be used as a ‘borrow’ area, which is an area that provides the dirt to cover the garbage in the landfill operation.”
I believe it’s malpractice for the consultants not to have uncovered this fact in their due diligence of this issue and I am disappointed that our professional staff did not publically acknowledge the possible limitations of utilizing Phase 4 and 5. I had also hoped that the City would have actively engaged the surrounding neighborhoods in the process, without doing so , it has created an adversarial climate that has damaged this City.
There are still problems with Hammer‘s allegation that the Gang of Four were ignorant of statutes regarding expanding the landfill, but Vaughan’s statement indicates that for two years city attorney staff failed to advise council that the landfill areas marked for expansion needed to be rezoned.
But even Vaughan’s statement is problematic, as some of the sitting council should have remembered the 2002 zoning action on Phase IV and Phase V. Her husband, NC Senator Don Vaughan, was at the time a councilmember, as was Robbie Perkins.
Meanwhile, today’s N&R has an article at the top of the front page about rising landfill costs, which is not available on their website. Instead, it’s in the e-edition.
At least the new RFP will not include expansion.
