WEST DECATUR – When the vote on a proposed ordinance change came down at Monday night’s Boggs Township meeting, the room all but cleared out.
Township supervisors gave unanimous approval to change an ordinance regarding the regulations imposed on landfills within the municipality.
With previous wording and the changes combined, PA Waste LLC, the company that filed a permit to construct a landfill in Boggs Township, delivery of waste will be allowed from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on non-holiday weekdays and from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Rod Beard, legal counsel for PA Waste, explained that there were several reasons Saturday hours are needed. The most often cited one, he said, was for the convenience of Boggs Township residents who would like to utilize the facility on that day. Other reasons included the need to for trash haulers to empty their trucks each day when collecting waste and for contractors to dispose of items without losing a work day.
Certain aspects of the business, Beard said, must be completed each day. Those included leachate (water) collection and monitoring at the landfill. Beard also addressed concerns residents had about the amount of truck traffic on Saturdays.
PA Waste’s application states that the company plans to accept about 5,000 tons of trash per day. Beard said the company cannot do the same volume during Saturday hours.
“By the nature of the set-up, that can’t happen,” Beard said.
The new ordinance also spells out the times when heavy equipment can be operated at the site and when construction materials can be delivered.
Heavy equipment is allowed to operate between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday except by permission of the supervisors. In addition, construction materials are not permitted to be delivered between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and construction is not allowed on Saturdays.
The ordinance also gives residents in Boggs Township free garbage disposal at the landfill. If the proposed Camp Hope Run Landfill cannot be included in the county plan, and therefore cannot accept county waste, the residents would be compensated monetarily.
“How could you do this?” asked Boggs Township resident Paula Norris after the vote was taken.
During the public comment period of the meeting, Gary Straw, township supervisor, reminded those in attendance that it could have been a drug treatment center that moved into the township.
“I would welcome it,” Norris responded, “I think it would bring growth.”
She added that there are other land uses, in her opinion, that would not have met with as much public opposition, such as a casino.
The township supervisors and other area officials will have their chance to weigh in on the landfill at a Local Municipal Involvement Process meeting to be held Jan. 11.
Robert Hasemeier, township engineer with Gannett Flemming Inc., said that if the township had not approved the ordinance change prior to the LMIP, there would be a “considerable risk” to Boggs Township with regard to litigation from PA Waste.
That risk, Hasemeier said, could have cost the township upwards of $300,000 per month for each month of delay if and when the Department of Environmental Protection approves the facility’s permit.