City sends back landfill application
The company must submit a new application.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- The application for a new landfill on U.S. Route 422 here is beginning to seem like the ball in a tennis match -- it's now back in the court of the company hoping to open the venture.
James Dobson, city health commissioner, hand-delivered the resubmitted request for the landfill back to Total Waste Logistics. It was rejected based on a resolution passed by the board of health in late August, Dobson said.
Management at Total Waste Logistics could not be reached to comment Thursday.
The company originally took out an application for a landfill license from the city health department June 9. The health board and a Columbus-based consulting firm hired by the city rejected the application based on 67 deficiencies they found.
Resubmitted
Total Waste Logistics resubmitted the original application with answers to the deficiencies earlier this month. City and health board officials, however, do not want a resubmitted application -- they want the entire process started anew.
Health board members, at the request of Mayor James Melfi, unanimously passed a resolution late last month stating that Total Waste Logistics must submit a new application if it comes back to request a permit.
Some board members, at the time the resolution was passed, did express concern that the company might take the issue to court. Melfi said that being sued should not be the board's concern, and that any financial concerns from any potential court action would be a city matter.
August ordinance
One key element in the company's submitting a new application, instead of correcting deficiencies in the current application, is an ordinance passed by city council in August to regulate landfills.
The ordinance was passed after the first Total Waste Logistics application was submitted. Therefore, the company did not have to adhere to standards in the ordinance.
Should the company submit a new application, Dobson said, the standards in the ordinance would have to be met.
The ordinance mandates that any landfill here be 200 feet from a body of water, 1,000 feet from buildings and at least one mile from any "natural area." The ordinance also holds hours of operation for such facilities to between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The ordinance also specifies how material accepted at the landfill is to be handled, establishes fee and bond rates for the facility and spells out how the site is to be closed when operations at the facility cease.
jgoodwin@vindy.com