Alamance County commissioners approve controversial stump dump on Clapp Mill Road

Alamance County commissioners gave final local approval to a controversial stump dump on Clapp Mill Road, voting 4-1 on April 20 to allow the Phillippie LCID landfill to move ahead at 4115 Clapp Mill Road. Commissioner Ed Priola cast the lone dissenting vote as neighbors in southern Alamance County braced for more truck traffic, noise, runoff fears and property concerns tied to the project.

The board approved an intent-to-construct permit for the landfill on a 99-acre tract owned by Kenneth Phillippie. The site is described as an LCID landfill, which means it is limited to land-clearing and inert debris, not ordinary household trash. State rules for LCID landfills have been in place since Jan. 4, 1993, and county officials said the project had already cleared the state permit step before the county took its final vote.

The county agenda identified the item as a continued matter from the April 6 meeting, and commissioners had delayed the decision for two weeks so opponents could speak at more length. The planning board had already recommended approval 6-1 in March after a two-hour discussion, and county planning staff found the application compliant with the heavy industrial development ordinance requirements.

That compliance finding did little to calm neighbors near Coble Township, where residents have argued for months that Clapp Mill Road and the quarter-mile operational road leading to the site are too vulnerable to heavy truck traffic. The county had previously heard complaints about access and nearby homes, and in February officials said the latest version of the plan appeared to have “cured” a road access problem that had once blocked planning board support. Priola said during the final-round discussion that his main concern was not the public road itself but the operational road used by large trucks coming and going from the landfill.

The approval closes the last major local hurdle, but it does not remove the oversight built into the process. County officials said the application had to meet detailed requirements that included a minimum 10-acre lot size, a 150-foot setback, lighting and flooding mitigation plans, groundwater and well-impact information, and a traffic analysis. For neighbors near 4115 Clapp Mill Road, the county’s 4-1 vote means the debate has shifted from whether the landfill can be approved locally to how closely it will be watched as it moves forward.