The Coffin Butte landfill entrance on Oct. 19, with Coffin Butte Road on the left.
A big expansion of the Coffin Butte Landfill is the subject of a public hearing before the Benton County Planning Commission tonight, Tuesday night. But the question is not whether the expansion is necessary or wise. Instead, it’s whether it meets some fairly nebulous or subjective standards in the county’s development code.
The hearing starts at 7, and it’s a virtual one. The agenda with links on how to watch or listen can be found here, on the county website.
Republic Services, which operates the landfill, needs a conditional use permit for the expansion. It wants to close Coffin Butte Road and expand the landfill across that road and up the hill to the south. The new section would allow continued dumping there for around 30 years, and the new “cell” or mountain of waste could reach a height of 500 feet elevation. That’s about 220 feet above what now is Coffin Butte Road.
More than 40 people have sent the county comments. In the past few days the opponents have published a website giving voice to their opposition. Here’s the link: www.coffinbuttefacts.org.
The county code says that to be granted, the “conditional use” must “not seriously interfere with uses on adjacent property, with the character of the area, or with the purpose of the zone.” Also, it must “not impose an undue burden on any public improvements, facilities, utilities, or services available to the area.”
In a 39-page staff report, the county’s community development staff concludes that the bigger landfill does not “seriously interfere” with anything. And it says that with conditions being proposed, the loss of Coffin Butte Road is not an “undue burden.”
These conditions include that Republic Services widen and reconstruct all of Tampico Road from Soap Creek Road to the intersection of Highway 99W (near Adair Village) to the standards required of a “major collector” road.
Also, the county would require the company to pave sections of Wiles and Robison Roads on the west and north sides of the dump. That’s so these two minor roads could serve as an emergency evacuation route from the countryside behind Coffin Butte.
In addition, Republic Services would be required to participate — though to what extent is unclear — in county and ODOT projects to redesign and improve the Highway 99W intersections of Tampico in the south and Robison in the north.
The planning commission is unlikely to reach a decision on the permit tonight. If and when it eventually does, the decision may be appealed to the county board of commissioners. The size of the fee charged for an appeal — $3,900 plus $120 an hour for however many hours of staff time — would make an appeal easier for Republic, a nationwide company, than the private residents within a few miles of the dump.
The county government has a monetary interest in the outcome. Under a franchise agreement with Republic reached last year, Benton County is guaranteed minimum franchise fees of $2 million in 2021, $2,040,000 in 2022, $2,080,000 in 2023, and $3.5 million in 2024. The annual fee would go up after that based on inflation.
But in addition, Republic will owe the county a fee based on the tons of trash collected at the landfill if that tonnage fee total is more than the franchise minimum. If the expansion is approved in 2023 or earlier, the tonnage fee will be $3.91/ton in ’23 and $3.99/ton in ’24. If the expansion permit is not approved by 2025, the tonnage fee goes down and the franchise fee drops to $2.5 million.
Not that that would have a bearing on the county’s stand. (hh)
Why o why is Coffin Butte accepting trash from the elitists’ up in the western wine country. Lett’em dig some of those vines out & make a hole! They made the trash they ought to keep it.
So I guess one question to ask…is it better to expand a dump/landfill that already exists or create a new one somewhere else in the area?
I’d postulate that expanding the existing is likely more cost effective overall except for those people that are currently adjacent to the dump. Perhaps Republic should look to buy out those in the area that don’t want to live near an expanded dump? Though why they’d want to live near the current dump is questionable well.
Since it was first approved in 1973, the dump has expanded and engulfed all of the nearest neighbors. The people who are opposing the dump now used to be far away from operations, but, your comment is exactly correct “who would want to live near a dump?” — well, nobody, and that has allowed the landfill operator to be last purchaser standing for surrounding properties. Neighbors who used to show up to oppose expansions are no longer property owners because their properties have been assimilated. The landfill started out with a tiny parcel and now own more acreage than the city of Adair.
So don’t blame the neighbors for this. They didn’t ask for it.
Another result of expansion
Subjective standards in this matter will likely need legal interpretation. In addition, social values change over time. So, what was an acceptable “standard” yesterday may not be acceptable today. I suspect this will eventually land in the laps of the County Commissioners who I’m sure don’t cherish the thought of dealing with it. Why? Well, as has already been pointed out, many years ago Benton County government got addicted to dump money and addictions are hard to break.
A point that has not been mentioned anywhere is related to final decommissioning and management of the landfill when it happens. Historically, decommissioned landfills have a horrible record of continuing pollution and management problems. That burden will fall on Benton County residents and the ongoing associated costs will be high. So, the larger the landfill the greater the future headache. Republic Services will have long ago ridden off into the sunset with their profits leaving the problem to us.
Like many others I have a long list of reasons why I think this expansion should not happen. The county commissioners will receive that by mail. I will focus on the thousands of pounds of mud that gets spread out on the highway everyday within a one-mile radius of the dump entrance.
Anyone who drives near the dump on Highway 99W on a rainy day knows your car will be covered with mud that gets kicked up by the traffic after trucks coming for the landfill spread it over the highway. If you’re really lucky, you get stuck behind an empty trash truck that has just merged on the highway and sprays that mud all over your windshield, literally blinding the driver.
If the expansion proposal is approved, the number of out of area trash-carrying trucks will expand by many hundreds and only make the problem of mud on the highway worse. When the eventual accident or accidents happen, Benton County, and the State of Oregon will likely be the defendants in civil lawsuits because they are responsible for keeping the highway clear and safe not Republic Services. It will also cost the tax payers millions of dollars.
I would say the mud on the highway and related drive-ability and safety issues DO constitute an undue burden on public improvements and facilities available to the area. As such, the expansion proposal should not be granted.
If you’re really worried about trash, then get to the source: over packaged stuff.
No more plastic bottles/containers, go back to reusable glass. ALL beverage containers, including water, with a 10 cent returnable charge. No more plastic clamshells over a single head of lettuce. No more plastic anti-theft hangers for a single item, that requires a mini-nuclear cutter to cut them open.
Beer, soda, 6-packs of canned spinach, etc. in recyclable paper boxes. Vegetables in paper sacks. Those of us of a certain age remember how all these old things worked fine.
Yet, there will be garbage that needs to be dealt with. And the days of the town dump are long gone when you have to deal with hundreds of tons of waste per day. Regional solutions are likely be more cost-effective than every city or town or unincorporated crossroads running their own SAFE disposal systems.
There are solutions and everyone should get involved. But these is never a perfect solution. There are always tradeoff’s.
The Coffin Butte landfill should be for Benton County ONLY!! The other counties should have their own landfill. If this was enforced, an expansion would not be needed. A “conditional use” should not be granted. This proposal violates every principle contained in a “conditional use” permit.