news-record.com

GREENSBORO — A plan to reopen the White Street Landfill, which was presented to the City Council on Tuesday, would have community members take part in running it.

Robert Mays , a local businessman who served several terms on the City Council in the 1980s and ’90s , wants to create a public-private partnership with Greensboro to run the landfill.

The council closed the site to household trash in 2006 . Since then, some council members have flirted with the idea of reopening it to save money. The city currently ships its waste to another landfill in North Carolina.

“This issue can come and change on a dime,” Mays said. “There could be one vote difference that could cause this landfill to open some day with little or no say from the neighborhood.”

Mays began looking two years ago at how to reopen the landfill using better technology to control issues such as odor and waste management. He briefly outlined his plans Tuesday to the council and asked it to seek proposals. He promised more details later because the council could discuss confidential business matters in the proposals out of public view.

The council decided it wanted to hear more about Mays’ plans at a later briefing.

Mays gave more details in a phone interview Wednesday. The proposal would:

* Include community members affected by the landfill on the company’s board of directors and as part of day-to-day operating decisions.

* Create a nonprofit or other entity for the community to fund projects it chooses.

* Use technology to reduce some of the waste stream, including recycling a portion of waste on site.

* Address odor issues in various ways, for example, not allowing composting at the site.

* Eliminate traffic concerns about the large number of trucks driving through nearby neighborhoods, although he would not specify how.

“That’s just kind of a little hint of some of what we’d be doing,” Mays said.

Another component of the proposal would look at economic development. Mays said that would involve large tracts of land that could be quickly turned around for projects such as those council has approved in the past for industrial use. He declined to identify land that could be developed.

Mays put together more than a dozen people interested in the project, including two N.C. A&T professors with backgrounds in technology and waste management; Mary Oliver a community activist; and former Councilman Cameron Cooke , who also served on the city’s Comprehensive Plan committee.

Paul Gilmer , a realtor who lives near the landfill, joined the group this spring. He told the council Tuesday night that he favors the plan.

“The reason I got involved in it: It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for east Greensboro to prosper,” said Gilmer, who has served on city boards, such as planning and zoning.

While opposed to reopening the landfill, Gilmer said he believes the city eventually will make that decision. He would rather have the community be part of the process.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com