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Council considers role of landfill

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Comments (11)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

(Updated 5:37 am)

By Amanda Lehmert
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — The City Council continues to talk trash.

At the request of council members, the city staff will consider the costs of reopening the White Street Landfill to household trash — including how much the city might spend to buy homes surrounding the landfill.

The council might hold a public meeting with residents who live around the northeast Greensboro landfill to test neighbors’ opinions about reopening it.

Council members debated those ideas at a briefing with the city staff Tuesday.

Reopening the landfill, which was closed to household trash in 2006, is an issue that was brought up by City Councilman Mike Barber last year. He said it could save the city the costs of trucking trash to a landfill in Mount Gilead.

Last April, the council voted 6-3 to not reopen the landfill, but the questions about trash operation costs continue.

“We’ve just reached a point in our lives and the economy and the demands on government, we can’t leave millions and tens of millions on the table,” Barber said Tuesday.

Councilwoman Trudy Wade asked whether the council could create a committee to talk to homeowners around the landfill and ask them to consider selling their homes to the city.

“The residents know this is costing them a tremendous amount of money for solid waste,” Wade said. “I am not for going out and expanding the landfill without the residents knowing and being involved.”

Mayor Yvonne Johnson said it might be best to host a council meeting in the district. “It is such a volatile issue,” she said.

Johnson and Barber had a heated exchange after he asked the city staff to create a comparison of the costs of operating the landfill with the current transfer station.

Johnson said there should be a poll of the council before the staff does that kind of work. Barber accused the mayor of standing in the way of releasing the information.

Ultimately council members agreed that the staff would report on those operation costs and potential prices to buy nearby homes.

Ralph Johnson, co-chairman of the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro, said the community has been concerned about the possibility the landfill might reopen.

There is a lot of history in the area that could be eliminated if the city bought the homes, he said.

“The people who live in the neighborhood have endured this landfill for more than 50 years,” Johnson said. “It’s time to table that discussion once and for all.”

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com

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nclawkid

May 27, 2009 - 3:35 am EDT

Trudy Wade is once again proposing another damn committee. What the h*** are taxpayers paying her for?

All she does is relegate her responsibilities to committees and boards and task forces.

At some point the person elected has to stop delegating and take ownership of the issues. Refusal to do so is an admission that the person either doesn't have the wherewithal to do it or they simply don't care enough to try.

How refreshing it would be to see a city council member knock at the door. City council members showing engagement? Unlikely, especially from this bunch of fools.

doggedpursuit

May 27, 2009 - 8:04 am EDT

You've got to be kidding me! All the information the City Council needs is right there in last year's budget report and this year's proposed budget. All you need to read is the Solid Waste Management Fund budget for each year. For the 2009-2010 budget, the City will spend 48.5% of the Solid Waste Managment Fund budget or $9 MILLION to transfer the City's waste to Montgomery County rather than put it in the White Street Landfill. In the 2008-2009 budget year, the City spent nearly 46% of the Solid Waste Managment Fund budget or $8.43 MILLION to transfer the City's waste to Montgomery County rather than put it in the White Street Landfill.

The City has an active RCRA Subtitle D Solid Waste permit with the State for the White Street Landfill and plenty of acreage to dispose to municipal waste there for many years to come. And will someone remind me...exactly how much of a budget shortfall did the City have to deal with this year? Wasn't it something like $7 MILLION? I guess it will take severe cutbacks in other City services or another property tax increase for the City Council and city taxpayers to realize just how much money is being wasted by not landfilling the waste right here in our own landfill. What a freakin' boondoggle!!

Panacea

May 27, 2009 - 8:08 am EDT

You don't have to live there.

modesty78

May 27, 2009 - 8:47 am EDT

Exactly!!

doggedpursuit

May 27, 2009 - 8:15 am EDT

No, I don't. But I made an informed, intelligent decision not to live there based, in part, on the fact I KNEW there was a landfill there. This isn't just a matter of the existence of a landfill. This is also a big zoning screw-up. What kind of Zoning Department would actually allow property near a landfill be zoned for residential housing? After all, the landfill has been there since...what...the 1960's at least.

modesty78

May 27, 2009 - 9:01 am EDT

Well I live near there, and I am highly offended. I do not know you and you do not know me but I do not feel that insulting anyone's intelligence is a sound and smart thing to do. However, I purchased my home under the impression that the landfill was closed. And you know what; I absolutely love it over there. It is peaceful and quite, my kids play outside, we go on walks in the trail; we have a good life there. The sad thing is, I pay taxes to transfer trash just like the next guy. I have researched other cities that use this same method. They are thriving and prosperous. There are plenty of other ways to save money. There are also plenty of ways to bring in revenue. I see how the people of this city feel, which saddens me, and unfortunately this issue is going to create so much tension between the communities, it might be irreconcilable. We are not going to give up and we are not going anywhere.
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

miah

May 27, 2009 - 9:15 am EDT

I to live near the landfield. When we bought our house we were under the same impression that the landfield will not open but I guess they lied again and if anyone is so opened to reopen the landfield let it open in your neighborhood.

doggedpursuit

May 27, 2009 - 9:51 am EDT

Please understand...I'm not trying to insult anyone. There ARE multiple issues involved here...the City budget...environmental justice...zoning issues. But the idea that a "commission" or a "City Council meeting in the district" or a "new study" is necessary is ludicrous...all those things are just stalling the inevitability of really addressing the multiple issues here. The numbers are right there already in the budget details posted on the City website. The citizens and taxpayers of the City have some tough choices to make. How do think the citizens of Montgomery County feel, having to landfill waste that they didn't even create? And the idea that ANYONE on the City Council would censor its own staff members from presenting the costs of transfer versus landfilling or repressing the information is offensive TO ME. These are real numbers. In the coming years, the City is faced with either raising taxes and fees or severe cutbacks in City services. $8-9 MILLION PER YEAR is a lot of money. I'm sure the folks who live near the landfill are nice people. The folks that live in NW Greensboro are nice people too...with a lot more money and political sway...yet that wasn't enough to keep out a 3rd runway at the airport or a FedEx hub. At some point, "the majority rules." It could be worse...the City could decide to dispose of the waste with a municipal waste INCINERATOR. How do think THAT would go over with citizens of the City? Or maybe the NC General Assembly could make the decision that each county in the state must dispose of its OWN waste within its OWN county. The biggest mistake the City Council made was closing the White Street Landfill in the first place.

modesty78

May 27, 2009 - 11:20 am EDT

How about this then. It was stated a couple of years ago that the landfill only had about 2 or 3 years left prior to it closing before it be at it's capacity. It was also stated that it can take the city up to seven years to get the proper permits that it needs in order to expand and if there are any pending lawsuits it would prolong those permits. What happens then, whose money will be wasted then? Because you can not dump in a landfill which has reached it's capacity. What happens to the $8 million dollars that has already been spent, if it is closed that is money wasted. What could we do #1 to reduce the trash that we produce, #2 make a conscience effort to reserve our already at risk natural resources. My family and I make and effort everyday to try not and produce unnecessary trash. We have gotten it down to where our trash doesn't even need to be picked up every week. There are other alternatives. The saying is "you get what you pay for" what is less is not always what is best, who can honestly argue with that. We just spent over $51 million on a building, a structure, that I guess $10 million wasn't enough. What about all the other issues dealing with money that doesn't envolved people and their lives.

doggedpursuit

May 27, 2009 - 12:57 pm EDT

Fair enough. You're absolutely right...one key to solving the problem is a conscious effort on the part of citizens to actively reduce the amount of waste that they produce...some call it "source reduction." You want to try mandating that to voters? Try levying a tax of citizens based on how much waste they produce versus much they recycle. I promise you...it won't get very far. Too many people are accustomed to "throw away and forget." There'll be a tax revolt on your hands. NIMBY ("Not In My Back Yard") is a horrible problem, nationwide.

As far as landfill permitting is concerned, I don't know much about other kinds of permits but I DO know that the White Street Landfill has a NC Division of Waste Management RCRA Subtitle D solid waste permit that allows the City to have a much larger landfill on the existing property right now. More importantly, the City has active phase of the landfill that is still receiving things like construction debris and land clearing debris. The landfill has a considerable amount of space remaining. On our current track, in addition to the $8-9 MILLION that will be spent each year hauling the waste to Montgomery County, the City will eventually have to build yet another Transfer Station once the capacity at the current station is exceeded. There are no EASY answers.

Rick

May 27, 2009 - 10:06 am EDT

I'd trust Barber and mayor Johnson about as far as I could thrown them. (Same for Wade, Matheny, Perkins, Wells, Groat)... all greedy, self-serving politicians.