A solid waste transfer station jointly operated with Carrboro and a pay-as-you-throw system were among a consultant’s recommendations Monday night to the Town Council.

Bob Dick, vice president of SCS Engineers, outlined 18 immediate, short-term and long-term steps for handling the town’s solid waste when the Orange County Landfill closes July 1.

Chapel Hill could begin shipping its waste to Durham in April or May at $42.50 per ton, or it could sign a three-year contract with Waste Industries at $41 per ton, Dick said. To make the transition to shipping its waste, the town also should spend $380,000 this year and $341,000 in 2014 on new compactor trucks, employees, fuel and a routing study, he said.

Dick recommended the town continue working with Orange County to handle its recycling, yard waste and white goods. He also suggested asking Carrboro about sharing the cost to build a waste transfer station beside the Town Operations Center on Millhouse Road.

The study does not recommend outsourcing commercial or residential trash pickup or building a new landfill.

Mark your calendars: television chef Curtis Stone is coming to Southern Season on Nov. 15.

Stone, who is selling a new line of cookware, will be in the Chapel Hill store for a cooking demonstration at 11 a.m. Stone is the host of Bravo's "Top Chef Masters," and co-host of "Around the World in 80 Plates."

The event is free. The store is located at 201 S. Estes Dr. at University Mall.

Friday night high school football games

The Town Council voted not to accept any more bus advertising late Wednesday after learning a policy change last year banned most political and religious ads.

The 6-1 vote suspends new interior and exterior advertising until the council can review the town’s policy. Existing ads will stay up until their contracts end, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said.

The council apparently adopted an amended policy on June 13, 2011, that specifically excludes religious advertising “in which the primary message is one promoting or opposing religion, particular religions, religious issues, or religious doctrines.” It also excludes ads that promote or oppose “a particular view on political or social issues.”

If the council chose not to suspend the advertising program, the previously approved policy would have taken effect, and non-conforming ads would have been removed from buses, he said.

“This was an extraordinarily rare thing to ever happen in this town. It was a mistake, it was discovered, and we’re quickly taking action to remedy it,” Kleinschmidt said.

The town’s bus ad policy has been a point of contention since Church of the Reconciliation bought 98 ads in August advocating for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. The national group American Freedom Defense Initiative responded by submitting an ad for approval that refers to Muslims as savages and encourages support for Israel.

You may remember that I wrote a column earlier this year about Orange County's Transplanting Traditions Community Farm for Karen refugees. 

The farm is hosting a fundraiser at 4 p.m. Sunday. The event will include farm tours, traditional Karen folk music and dancing, Karen appetizers and hot cider, plus a presentation about Karen culture and Burma.

Tickets cost $15 online at http://ocpyc.wordpress.com/ or $20 at the door.

The farm, located at 2912-B Jones Ferry Road, Chapel Hill, serves 25 families relocated to North Carolina from Burma. The funds raised will allow more families to use the community farm and replace grant money that is expiring.

UPDATE: Just got this email:

FUNDRAISER ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 28^TH POSTPONED DUE TO HURRICANE SANDY

New Fundraiser date will be Sunday November 11^th from 4 -7 at Vimala’s Curryblossom Café http://www.curryblossom.com/

The event will remain the same with traditional Karen Burmese food, dancing and music as well as a photo documentary show by Vanessa Patchett.

If you have already bought tickets and can’t attend the new fundraiser date let us know if you would like a refund.

http://www.facebook.com/events/443944278976101/

Chapel Hill residents and town staff compared notes Monday in preparation for this week’s Town Council presentation about the Central Estes/MLK Focus Area planning process.

The council will receive three recommendations for the study group and process at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers at Town Hall.

There are a few differences – about the group’s name and composition, the planning area and the schedule – but also a number of similarities. The groups have met five times since September.

The Central Estes/MLK Focus Area is one of six small areas identified in the 2020 Comprehensive Plan for more intensive study and planning.

Mary Jane Nirdlinger, town director of policy and strategic initiatives, said a memo with community, Planning Board and staff recommendations was not meant to change or circumvent residents’ desires.

“Your time is valued. We’re here tonight to share our thinking, but I don’t think we would even be at this point if you all hadn’t put the time into those meetings and we hadn’t had a chance to have all the conversations we’ve had, including tonight,” she said.

The Estes Neighbors community group has a petition asking the council to accept the community’s recommendations. The petition – at http://bit.ly/RuyBkg – had more than 200 signatures Tuesday morning.

Former Gov. Jim Martin, who is leading an  investigation into academic irregularities at UNC, visited The N&O on Tuesday to talk about how things are going. Here are nonverbatim excerpts of what he had to say.

Southern Season's cooking school has a series of classes to help with menu inspiration for the holiday season. Here are a few of the classes:

• 6 p.m. Nov. 8, Justin and Katie Meddis of the future Rose's Meat Market and Sweet Shop in Durham are teaching a Thanksgiving class. The menu includes pork pie, cornbread dressing, fresh cured ham and roasted beets and tarte tatin. It costs $35.
• 5 p.m. Nov. 14, Katie Coleman of Durham Spirits Co. will teach a class on holiday pies and tarts. The class includes instruction on how to make flaky pie crusts, pate brisee and pate sucree, plus walnut streusel pumpkin pie, spiced apple and cranberry pie, bourbon-laced chocolate pecan pie and pear and dried cherry custard tart. The cost is $45.
• 6 p.m. Nov. 17, David Hirsch of the famous Moosewood vegetarian restaurant is teaching a Thanksgiving class. The vegetarian menu includes creamy chestnut soup, a crisp autumn salad, stuffed squash, yams with crystallized ginger and dried fruit and for dessert, hazelnut truffles. It costs $55.
• 2 p.m. Nov. 18, Hirsch will teach how to make a holiday vegetarian feast with the following menu: potato florentine soup, avocado citrus salad, polenta lasagna, figs baked with pistachio and chevre, red cabbage and cranberries and chocolate cherry rugelach. The class costs $55.
• 5 p.m. Nov. 19, the cooking school staff will teach holiday fun food, including sparkling wine cocktails, brisket tacos with guacamole and lime crema, penne pasta with easy chicken sausage and pesto, and milanos for dessert. The cost is $45.

The gourmet food and housewares store is at Chapel Hill's University Mall. To see the full class schedule, go to www.southernseason.com. To register, go online or call 919-929-7133.

The Town Council was receptive to two projects proposed Monday but concerned about the potential loss of affordable housing.

Southern Village developer D.R. Bryan wants to build a hotel and 68-unit apartment building along U.S. 15-501, while developer Ron Strom is asking to redevelop and add another 95 units to Timber Hollow apartments.

The Southern Village project would replace three single-family rental units. Several council members urged Bryan to look at ways to preserve affordable housing.

“I know there are a couple of families in those houses, and studio apartments and one-bedroom apartments don’t necessarily fit those kinds of families,” Council member Penny Rich said.

The council also wondered about affordable housing at Timber Hollow, located at the corner of Piney Mountain Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Strom said the plan is to raise apartment rents about 3 percent next summer. He is working with the Home Trust to find solutions other than writing a check, he said.

More details from the discussion will appear in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.

There are two home brew beer drinking events on the horizon for good causes.

First, Brew Durham 3 is this Saturday to benefit The Scrap Exchange.

Folks will have more than 60 beers to taste from the Triangle's home brewing community, including Santa's Breakfast", an oatmeal coffee stout with cinnamon and cloves by brewer Dan Caswell and "Monkey Punch" by brewer Michael Mayhew, a sour ale brewed with apricots, currants and dark brown sugar.

Brew Durham will have two tasting sessions: 1-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased online at brewdurham3.eventbrite.com/. Designated driver tickets are available for $5. The event will happen at The Cordoba Center for the Arts at 923 Franklin St., Durham.

Second, tickets are available for the second annual Homebrew for Hunger festival on Nov. 17 in Chapel Hill.

Twenty-five home brewers will be serving their beers, including a chocolate pumpkin porter and a juniper ale. They will be joined by local craft breweries Fullsteam, Carolina Brewery and Bull City Burger & Brewery. Beer distributor Harris, Inc. will be pouring beer from other local breweries, including Aviator, Big Boss, Triangle and Lonerider brewing companies. The event raises money for PORCH, a hunger relief organization in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

The event has two sessions from noon-3 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Tickets cost $20 in advance and can be purchased online at www.homebrewforhunger.com or at Fifth Season Gardening stores in Carrboro or Raleigh. If any tickets are left, those will be sold at the door for $25. The event will be held at West End Public, an event space at 462 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill.