COMPLIANCE INFO_2013-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Showdown over S.J. landfill may co P *o a head I Recordnet.com Page 1 of 2 SHOWDOWN OVER S.J. LANDFILL MAY COME TO A HEAD SUPERVISORS TO WEIGH EXPANSION AMID CONCERNS OF AIRPORT SAFETY By Alex Breitler September 21, 2013 Record Staff Writer The summit of Forward Landfill is the highest point in central San Joaquin County, towering 210 feet above the Valley floor. To the west, you can see for miles across farms and south Stockton until the view disappears in the haze. You don't have to look that far, however, to spot the airport. Just follow the descent of a small plane whose shadow crosses a nearby field where Forward hopes to someday expand its operations. Stockton Metropolitan Airport and the privately owned landfill have been close neighbors for many years, but the proposed expansion has triggered a fierce land -use dispute expected to culminate Tuesday with a hearing before the county Board of Supervisors. The airport says fattening the landfill so that it extends beneath the airport's outer approach and within 6,000 feet of the runway is inappropriate. Landfills attract birds, and birds and airplanes don't mix. "The issue of expansion is it extends the life of the landfill and poses problems into the future," said Harry Mavrogenes, the airport's interim director. Forward says it can keep the birds away - that it in fact has already scared them off over the past couple of years using menacing falcons and loud pyrotechnics. "We've created a terror zone, versus a feeding zone. Those seagulls are gone," said Kevin Basso, general manager of landfill owner Allied Waste, which merged with Arizona -based Republic Services Inc. in 2008 to form the nation's second-largest waste hauler. The dispute has produced reams of paperwork as consultants labor over environmental documents, opponents' lawyers fire off lengthy comment letters and bird experts on each side argue over the feeding habits of seagulls. Forward's foes claim many reasons to fight. Some worry about groundwater and air pollution, agriculture and food safety, noise and smell. Some point to recent environmental violations at the landfill as evidence of a poor track record. And some don't like the fact that most of the garbage buried at Forward is imported from other counties, considering San Joaquin County officials say there is room in county -owned landfills for another 30 years' worth of local trash. But the issue before the supervisors Tuesday is a narrow one - whether the airport and an ever -larger Forward Landfill can coexist. The county's Airport Land Use Commission has already determined the expansion is not consistent with a plan for the airport developed in 1993. That means Forward's owners will have to convince four out of five county supervisors on Tuesday that the expansion should not be blocked. "If (Forward) can't get around this, it can't get any further. That would be a stopper," said Jeannie La Forge, who lives in Colorado but owns property near the landfill and started a coalition in an effort to mobilize opposition. http://www.recordnet.comlappslpbcs.dll/article?AID=1201309211A NEWS/309210318&cid=sitesearc... 9/23/2013