CHAPEL HILL — Some Orange County residents say they are fighting to save their neighborhood. They do not want a 160-acre trash drop-off center built in their backyard.

The proposed site is just west of Chapel Hill near the intersection of Highway 86 and Interstate 40.

County commissioners held a public meeting Monday to debate whether to rezone the Greene Tract to a materials handling zone.

Several residents were vocal about the issue. "An acre of industrial metal buildings surrounded by garbage trucks is hiding behind the jargon of materials handling," says Orange County resident Dave Godshalk. -->

"Think about how you would feel if you had to smell overpowering nauseous odors day in and day out, especially early in the morning and late at night," says Kenneth Rudow, an Orange County resident. "Think about the knowledge that the water you have is contaminated completely changes the quality of your life stresswise and healthwise.

Jo Ann Garvin, a resident of Orange County, hopes the commissioners think twice about their plan.

"I fear you believe this rezoning is the only way left to solve the solid waste problem and that you have no choice," says Jo Ann Garvin, an Orange County resident. "But when you are about to do an terrible injustice, there is always another choice."

Buzzards already gather at an active landfill within a mile from the Greene Tract. Jannie Bradshaw hopes they will not be hovering over her house in Orange County.

"I would hate to move, but if it came to that, then I guess that I would eventually," Bradshaw says.

The county's planning board will continue to debate about the issue and make a recommendation. If they approve the recommendation, then there will be more meetings to decide what portion of the Greene tract would be used for the solid waste handling site.