04/28/2009: "Public Hearing Today On Transfer Station"

Town, County & DOE Officials Meet At Sutton Rd Site

A continuation of a public hearing will be held today at 1:30 (4-28-09) on where to build a new transfer station for San Juan Island.

Some of the top officials from the state Department of Ecology (DOE) met with Town of Friday Harbor and SJ County officials last Thursday to do a site visit at the Sutton Road Transfer Station. The site visit was scheduled to discuss progress on bringing the site into compliance.

Council member Rosenfeld reported “I was very impressed that according to the DOE staff, most -I’m going to use a very technical term here- most of the bugaboos of locating a new transfer station next to the existing landfill have gone away."

County Council members at the meeting included Chair Rich Peterson, Howard Rosenfeld and Lovel Pratt, along with County Administrator Pete Rose, and Public Works staff. The Town sent along Council members Carrie Lacher (who is also the Chair of SWAC), Liz illg, and town staff members.

According to a report to the full County Council from Pratt, the DOE officials included the directors of water quality, solid waste, and two regional directors. Lovel said DOE was “pleased that both the Town and the County had got to work addressing work that needed to be done.”

However, Lovel said the condition of the Orcas transfer station has also come under scrutiny by the DOE, and it too is likely to be forced to apply for a Storm Water General Permit.

The County took the opportunity to ask the DOE if Sutton Road was selected to be the new Transfer Station, would the expansion and construction result in negative impacts to the capped land fill. According to Lovel “all the experts said this would not exacerbate any environmental issues.”

Another expressed concern has been the possibility of contamination of a new site from the existing land fill, but this too, Lovel reported “is not an issue.” Rosenfeld added that if there was major blasting “that was the only scenario that DOE could even conceive of there being a potential harm.”

The fact that the Sutton Road site is not level is seen as a plus or a minus depending on who one is talking to. For Public Works it has been described as a condition that needs to be changed to locate a new transfer station, but Rich Peterson, and local architect Kevin Peterson (no relation), have said it is a plus, since there will not be the need to excavate for a tipping floor, as will be necessary on the other potential sites.

With respect to the existing capped landfill, Rosenfeld said that, not only does DOE “see no problem with that …they actually see some advantages of keeping it all on one site.” A concern for Rosenfeld has been how to “mitigate any of the problems of the existing landfill, they said ‘No, there are no problems!’”