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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981 08-12 City acts to halt landfill THE REVIEW City acts trodz43/2i/98/ halt landfill Another concern is the potential land- By JON.ATHON CLYDE GLASS fill's close proximity to the playground of Staff Writer Carver Elementary School, 2680 Upper Afton Road,and the daycare center at Maplewood residents and government Lutheran Church of Peace,47 S.Century bodies mobilized last week to show their Ave. objections to the construction of a sanitary landfill on the site of the Ramsey BY STATE LAW,landfills must be at County Workhouse,297 S.Century Ave. least 80 acres and have an 60 acre buffer More than 50 aroused south Maplewood area around them. The northern boun- residents attended an Aug. 3 evening dory of the buffer of a landfill at the public hearing to deliver petitions bearing workhouse would be only 20 feet from the more than 1,000 names of Maplewood and edge of the Carver School playground, Woodbury residents who do not want a said Judy Marcoux,457 Mary St.Most of landfill in their area. the proposed buffer,according to Mar- On Aug.6,the Maplewood City Council, roux,is along McKnight Road and Lower sharing these residents'basic sentiments, Afton Road,leaving only a"pencil line" uanimously passed a resolution rejecting on the north side,where the children play "the utilization of this site or the selection and take school field trips, Marcoux of the site as a potential landfill area on explained. the grounds that it substantially in- Sandy Forest, a hydrologist with the terferes with the the health and welfare of MPCA, acknowledged that the govern- the citizens of Maplewood,as well as the ment had not known of the playground's residents of the Ramsey County location,but it had been aware that the Workhouse..." school and church were there.The school "I'm strongly against the dump site as and church may not legally qualify as a developer and even more so as a "occupied dwellings," according to resident,"Gary Grant,427 O'Day Circle, Forest.The closest private residence,at told the council.Grant,a supervisor for 270 feet from the site,is closer than the Mary Anderson Construction which is 1,000 foot minimum distance,but MPCA developing the Crestview Addition regulations allow the agency to waive that directly south of the workhouse,said a restriction if other factors make the site landfill would even further depress suitable. housing sales. Besides the church and school, the Grant and other residents also com- workhouse itself,with an average daily plained that public notice of the site population of 175,would only be 50 feet selection process had been inadequate. away from the actual landfill pit.He is not They had less than one week, after certain whether the workhouse inmates reading about the issue in the Review,to qualify as residents within the meaning of circulate their petitions. "We needed the statute, said Bernard Goldberg, more time and a better idea of the hearing examiner for the landfill hearings necessary facts and selection criteria," and dean at William Mitchell College of Grant said. Law in St.Paul. Goldberg,who will make a recomm- THE WORKHOUSE PROPERTY is the mendation in regard to the workhouse site only Ramsey County site to be considered in about three weeks,told the Review that for a sanitary landfill,though a Shoreview his decision will be narrow in scope,based site is under consideration as a demolition only on the environmental factors.Other landfill. The Metropolitan Council, factors—like the landfill's impact -7 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency general land use, traffic and property (MPCA) and all seven metropolitan values — will be considered by the counties will have a share in the final Metropolitan Council,he said. determination of where to develop land- "This stage (of the decision-making fills in the region. process)can serve as the focal point for A sanitary landfill is used for the burial community interest in the topic," of residential and commercial garbage, Goldberg said. while a demolition landfill, also a The public hearings fulfilled their possibility for the workhouse site, is purpose by providing new information reserved f or discarded construction about private wells and drainage patterns equipment and supplies.The anticipated in the area,said Doug Wood,manager of lifespan of a sanitary landfill at the the Ramsey County Environmental workhouse is four years, while a Health Program. demolition fill would be usable for seven years The Ramsey County Board of Com- But the Maplewood residents and missioners is monitoring the hearing council would like to see the workhouse process through the reports of people like site eliminated right from the start. Wood,County Commissioner Hal Norgard "These things are hard to stop once they told the Review.The board does not ex- get going.They're like a chain reaction," pert to act on the issue until some of the said Grant. preliminary evaluations are completed The final clause in the council's and it has a more complete picture of the resolution declared,"...it is in the best situation,Norgard said. interest of the taxpayers of Ramsey The MPCA is scheduled to make its County that this site be negated and ruled final recommendation in regard to en- out at the earliest possible point so as to vironmental suitability of the site by Oct. prevent the further expenditure of monies 1. The county commissioners must ap- for ultimately futile engineering, en- prove a list of environmentally suitable vironmental and economic studies per- landfill sites and submit it to the taming to the possible development of this Metropolitan Council by Oct.15. site." Nearby residents are concerned about The time deadline for citizens wishing statements in the county report to submit written testimony to Goldberg suggesting that the landfill could not be has expired,but those who would like to completely visually screened from neigh- submit statements on the issue may send boring residents because of their higher them to the director of the MPCA,1935 W. elevations. County Road B-2,Roseville,55113.