CARRBORO - Candidates for Carrboro mayor and aldermen fielded questions at a Sierra Club forum Wednesday night on connector roads, a sales tax for transportation, and development in the northern study area.

The format did not let all candidates answer all questions. Three candidates are running for mayor: incumbent Mark Chilton and challengers Amanda Ashley and Brian Voyce, who did not attend. Five are running for three aldermen seats: incumbents Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven-O'Donnell and challengers Sharon Cook, Tim Peck and Sammy Slade.

Here are highlights, with information from those candidates asked the questions.

ON A HALF-CENT SALES TAX FOR TRANSIT: Ashley and the three incumbents said they would support an additional sales tax to help develop a light rail system and expand transit in other ways. Cook said, rather than raise taxes, the board should help more people work and shop locally. "Our people are really struggling to make ends meet," Cook said. "It may not seem like a lot, but when you add it all up. .... I think we need to be very careful."

ON CONNECTOR ROADS: Chilton, Cook and Peck said connector roads should be weighed case-by-case, taking into account safety, their actual contribution to community connectivity and environmental impact. Slade said the town policy encouraging connector roads is good, but to really spread traffic and not overload specific roads people need more places to go throughout town. He cited Savannah, Ga., as a city that spreads traffic well.

ON IMPROVING SAFETY FOR CYCLISTS AND PEDESTRIANS: Ashley said she would lower the speed limit throughout town by at least 5 mph. Cook said she worked to get sidewalks along Homestead Road to increase safety for students and would like to see more cyclists using lights at night. Haven-O'Donnell, who biked to Wednesday's forum and turned her bicycle light on as she left, wants a helmet law for adults. "15-501 and 54 are a disaster for any other vehicles but cars,' she said. Gist said, "I had the signs put up in the middle of the road that say, 'Stop!' and I'm real proud of that."

ON THE RURAL BUFFER (Note: The rural buffer, created by Orange County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro governments in 1987, surrounds the town limits of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and generally limits housing to one unit per two acres in order to concentrate growth and preserve the county's rural character.) Ashley, Haven-O'Donnell and Peck said they support keeping the buffer intact. Peck said it has helped maintain farms in Orange County. Slade said the question was complex but that the buffer is "probably necessary." Ashley said she is almost ready to cede the town's extra-territorial jurisdiction, or planning area outside town limits, back to the county in order to keep Carrboro small. "My entire position is based on keeping Carrboro the size it is now," she said.

ON COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND HIGHER DENSITY IN THE NORTHERN STUDY AREA: (Note: The Northern Study Area includes land in the town limits, its extra territorial jurisdiction and transition areas, which have a slightly higher density than rural buffer surrounding them. It is located north and west of Estes Drive, north of Hillsborough and Greensboro roads and bounded roughly by Rogers Road to the east and Union Grove Church Road to the west.) Cook challenged the notion the northern study area does not already have enough people to support commercial growth. 'I think we're missing a great opportunity along Eubanks Road," she said. "That's where we need to be building some of this commercial we're taking about." Haven-O'Donnell said the area has only a handful of highly developable spots and the town needs to better understand the potential for mixed-use development there to avoid mostly "boutiquey" shops. Chilton and Ashley supported more commercial development but not higher density.

ON HOW TO HANDLE SOLID WASTE: "Having a transfer station in Orange County is not the answer," said Ashley. "Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County need to go back to the drawing board." Slade said he opposes shipping the county's waste outside the county and also worries about sewage sludge spreading toxins on farmland. "Reduce, reduce, reduce," said Peck. "I don't know how realistic that is. If there is any way to [further] reduce, that would be better than shipping it away." Gist said Orange County has reduced its waste stream more than most counties and wants local governments to lobby at the federal level for source reduction or changes in packaging. She held up a plastic soda bottle she was drinking from as an example of the problem. Chilton said waste disposal is a county function and said he would leave the question to the county commissioners to avoid making their job any more difficult.