Waste station pushes deadline

Time is running short for Orange County Board of Commissioners to site a new waste transfer station.

Original plans which included selecting a site Tuesday projected that the station would be ready in May 2011 the same time the county landfill is expected to reach capacity.

But commissioners put off a final call for at least a month.

If there's no station before the landfill is full the county could face a waste management crisis.

Gayle Wilson the county's solid waste management director said the county could have to use a makeshift transfer station like an open lot for a few weeks. Garbage could also be shipped to a number of out-of-county landfills.

Or the county could be forced to tell residents" ""You're on your own"" Wilson said.

A transfer station would be used as a daily collection point for the county's garbage before it is shipped to an out-of-county landfill.

The county won't decide on a contingency plan for at least a year.

The rush to site and build a station is also a limiting factor on how much more time the board can take investigating other options, specifically waste to energy technology.

That conversation would take months or years" Commissioner Mike Nelson said.

Commissioners are currently on their second effort to locate a transfer station. Plans to build one on Eubanks Road were scrapped in November 2007 after residents protested.

Part of why we have a time crunch is because we decided to start over Chairman Barry Jacobs said.

While it may seem that we're hurrying" in fact we have gambled that we could still have a transfer station sited and constructed before we close the landfill.""

Building a waste transfer station is a complex process. Property has to be acquired first"" which consultants estimate will take at least two months.

""Anything short of a willing seller and there's no way in heck you could make a two month deadline"" Nelson said.

Construction alone will take more than a year.

Developers also have to design the station, and get construction permission from the county and the N.C. Department of Transportation, a process that can also take months.

Jacobs said Tuesday that the board could select a site on Dec. 11, revise part of the selection process or start from scratch. Three new commissioners join the board Dec. 1.

At its meeting Tuesday, the board asked Wilson if the county could buy some time by making more room in the landfill.

Frankly"" he said. I don't see how that's possible.""



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