Company owners refuse to discard landfill plans

The health board will address the resubmitted application later this month.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- A company looking to place a landfill just off U.S. Route 422 in the city has not given up despite opposition from the community and city leaders.
Total Waste Logistics originally took out an application for a license for the landfill from the city health department June 9. The company is looking to locate a construction and demolition debris landfill at the site on the city's north side.
Deficiencies found
The health board and a Columbus-based consulting firm hired by the city rejected the application based on 67 deficiencies they found in it.
Total Waste Logistics resubmitted the application Wednesday. Officials said the resubmitted application addresses the 67 deficiencies.
Mayor James Melfi, who has been adamantly opposed to the landfill, said the resubmitted application is no surprise to city leaders. He said the city has 60 days to respond to it.
"My stance has not changed," Melfi said. "This is something that we definitely expected."
Health board members, at the request of Melfi, passed a resolution in late August stating that if Total Waste Logistics comes back for a permit request, the company must submit a new application, not resubmit the application with corrected deficiencies.
Melfi, at the time, said the motion would be one more hurdle in preventing the new landfill from making a home in the city.
The mayor, however, did not say how the motion would make the process more difficult for the company.
Meeting later
Melfi said health board members will address the resubmitted application at their next meeting later this month. At that time, he said, the resubmitted application could be ruled void and Total Waste Logistics asked to submit an entirely new application.
jgoodwin@vindy.com