2 The Daily Tar Heel Monday, November 17, 1986 Mesomiinig nipsets local residents By STEPHANIE BURROW Staff Writer Some local residents are riled up following Carrboro's decision Tues day to set new zoning densities in the environmentally sensitive watershed area before the town could reach a coherent policy on development there with Chapel Hill and Orange County. The ordinance, which passed the Board of Aldermen with a 5-2 vote Nov. 11, makes the following pro visions: 1) decreases permissible density from one unit per acre to one unit per two acres on land within 300 feet of the watershed; 2) allows installation of water and sewer lines to replace septic tanks and allows the lines to cross streams and buffer areas; and 3) allows the town to regulate location of buildings and impervious surfaces like roads and roofs. The rationale behind decreasing building density within 300 feet of the watershed is to encourage cluster development outside the sensitive area, Carrboro Mayor James Porto Jr., said, and cut down on contaminant-carrying surfaces such as roads and roofs. Water and sewer lines also are better than septic systems, he said. "We can pass a law to control and restrict but cannot prohibit the use of the land," he said. "These pro visions are better than allowing unsupervised development." But Eleanor Kinnaird, a local resident, said that she felt the aldermen had made a serious mistake. "They turned their backs on Chapel Hill and Orange County in not waiting for the water study," she said. Orange Water and Sewer Author ity (OWASA) is in the process of studying how much development, with its resulting fecal waste and other contaminants, the water in University Lake and other reservoirs can accommodate. That study will take two years. Although overall density did not change, some residents say that density was and is too high. "The densities approved by the county and Carrboro are unsafe," Bennett said. "I would like to see more stringent regulations on den sities in the watershed area." Lois Herring, who lives in the watershed, said, "There have been four public hearings with big tur nouts and everyone spoke against the ordinance, but it didn't seem as if (ofTicals) listened. "1 think they are getting a lot of inordinate pressure from developers, and it's hard to resist them," she said. Several residents said they were upset that Carrboro would decide on a development policy. by itself that might later prove inconsistent with what Chapel Hill and Orange County would have recommended. "Aldermen should have waited until Orange County and Chapel Hill discussions were completed to reach an agreement with those entities," Jay Bryan, a local attorney, said. "Every effort should be made to ill! JtBJl PUT YOUR COLLEGE DEGREE TO WORK. Air Force Officer Training School is an excellent start to a challenging career as an Air Force Officer. We offer great starting pay, medical care, 30 days of vacation with pay each year and management opportunities. Contact an Air Force recruiter. Find out what Officer Training School can mean for you. Call MSgt Gary Huff (919) 333-5962 collect complete those studies as soon as possible." Herring added, "I thought they would wait for the county so the entire watershed would be subject to the same density." UNC professor Miles Crenshaw called the aldermen's move "reprehensible." "I'm disappointed in the mayor," Crenshaw said. "I'm particularly worried about water quality, and we have already have problems with our water supply we can't throw our watershed away." Porto said that under the old ordinance, no one had tried to build and that the current debate came about when Philip Szostak proposed the Amberly project, a residential community with polo and soccer fields. Robert Smythe of Carolina Resource Consultants said the "low density" Carrboro is pushing is inefficient. "In studies of other areas, low density development has been shown repeatedly to have the highest public cost per dwelling unit for the town to serve," Smythe said. Smythe proposed a special type of zoning which would allow the same number of units at the required density, but require that they be concentrated in one part of the watershed. In return for that zoning, the developer would have to transfer rights of the land to the proper jurisdictional entity either Car rboro, which owns 8 percent of the land, or Orange County, which owns the remaining 92 percent. Syrian president denies charges of terrorism From Associated Press report DAMASCUS, Syria Pres ident Hafez Assad denied that Syria was involved in terrorism and accused President Reagan and Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Sunday of being the "real terrorists" and trying to bully Syria. "We are against terrorism, we don't practice it and do not allow anyone to hatch terrorist plots from our territory," Assad told about 7,000 people at a Damascus stadiufm on the 16th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power. Assad said, however, that Syria backed "resistance against occu- Mens in Brief pation and all national liberation movement." Shultz says arms shipments should end WASHINGTON Secretary of State George Shultz said Sunday the United States should make no more arms shipments to Iran, contending, "I don't see any need for further signals" of U.S. good faith to moderate Iranians. Meanwhile, John Poindexter, President Reagan's national security adviser, said the U.S. arms embargo against Iran still stands and said he remains optim istic that more hostages may be released by pro-Iran forces in Lebanon. But Robert McFarlane, former natonal security adviser who made at least one secret trip to Iran, said his contacts among moderate Iranians are in danger of being killed now that his efforts have been made public. President Reagan, returning to the White House from Camp David, brushed aside a reporter question as to whether he had stopped arms shipments to Iran, saying, "I told you the truth once." Rainfall not enough to end restrictions American Heart Association, By SHEILA SIMMONS Staff Writer Last week's rainfall alleviated the water shortage in Chapel Hill, but left University Lake at a level 40 inches below full too low for the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) to recommend lifting Orange County's mandatory water restrictions. Although the level is only 4 inches below the 36-inch mark that sends the county into mandatory water conservation, OWASA representa tive Joan Gilore said Friday she didn't foresee a return to voluntary restrictions any time this week. "We can't think about raising restrictions until we get more rain," she said. When the level drops 24 inches, OWASA recommends voluntary water restrictions. At 36 inches, OWASA is free to ask the munic ipalities it services to implement mandatory water restrictions, Gil- mm tttf war gore said. The towns ultimately decide what restrictions to place on their residents. "Even if the level reaches 36 inches, the lake would need even more water before restrictions can be lifted," she said, "because there could be another dry spell." Since Oct. 16, Orange County has been under mandatory water restric tions, which limit such activities as watering lawns, washing cars and serving water in restaurants and reduces permissible shower length to four minutes. Last Monday, the lake was 42.5 inches below full. After rainfall on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the lake was still 40 inches below full on Friday. This summer's drought, the worst in 100 years, Gilgore said, hurt 60,000 farmers and, at its worst, lowered the level of University Lake between six and eight inches a day. Gilgore said it is not surprising for the shortage to carry over this far into the fall, because the two driest months of the year are October and November. Although the University Lake water level plummeted to 54 inches below full in August, before students returned to school, the lowest the level was 55 inches, recorded on Oct. 10, 11 and 12. Average rainfall for November is 2.8 inches, Gilgore said. So far this . month, rainfall has amounted to 1.72 inches, which equals October's total rainfall. The community normally con sumes 7 million to 8 million gallons of water a day. Since mandatory water restrictions have been applied, the community has used between 5.5 million and 5.9 million gallons of water a day, she said. For tho Ececrd According to Lab Theatre co producer Steve Maler, author Maya Angelou will not lead a discussion following the Monday evening performance of "Tapestry". Ange lou's scheduled appearance was reported in an article Friday due to misinformation. Ridley Kessler, documents librar ian at Davis Library, was incorrectly identified in a photo cutline Friday. The Daily Tar Heel regrets the errors. "aughn Independent Pharmacy Too Sick To Pick Up Your Prescription? WE DELIVER FREE! And when you order a prescription you become eligible to WIN a $5 US Gold Coin (worth $75). For FREE Delivery Call: 967-3766 503 W. Main St., Carrboro We guarantee not to be under sold! Thisnolim :et the" Write y season stufr t price. Now you can get the competitive edge when classes begin in January. 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