Recycling center of attention
Informational meeting draws plenty of questions in North Newton.
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Article RatingWill the Cumberland County recycling center proposed for a site along Oakville Road in North Newton township lower local trash bills? Will it attract people who dump trash and run?
Those were some of the concerns raised by the more than 50 people who turned out Thursday night for a two-hour informational meeting about the recycling center. The plan for the facility has already been approved by North Newton Township supervisors.
Tom Imphong, executive director of the Solid Waste Authority, which is in the process of changing its name to the Cumberland County Recycling and Waste Authority, explained some of the process that led to the decision to put the recycling facility on Oakville Road. He also fielded numerous questions about the appearance and operation of the proposed center.
Imphong said other sites had been considered and rejected, but the Oakville Road site was already set aside for uses related to a landfill. The property is presently used as farmland, but in 1998, a permit was issued that allows the soil to be removed and used to cover sections of the nearby Cumberland County Landfill, which is owned by Community Refuse Service Inc.
Imphong tried to show why the site was a good location for the facility and why it would be a good neighbor.
Residents whose properties border the site asked why they had not been informed of the possible plan before it was approved.
Roxanne Lukens, who lives on Greenspring Road, was concerned that property values would be affected by the recycling center. Buildings on her property, which fronts on Greenspring, may be closest to the facility.
Jon Gardner, whose driveway is almost opposite the proposed center's driveway, had a host of questions. He outlined them in a letter to the authority and county officials, in which he said “the secretive nature and speed with which it was rammed through every part of the approval process is suspect at best.” He thinks the township supervisors should have required a traffic study.
Imphong estimated that a maximum of eight trucks a day might enter and leave the facility. Gardner said that merited study, because the road is a tar-and-chip construction that won't hold up to heavy traffic.
A farmer who moves equipment regularly on the road also questioned whether the truck traffic would make it difficult for him to use the road. Others at the meeting noted that the road is used by local traffic that includes the farm equipment and also buggies and school buses.
Imphong said the center would be staffed when it was open and that telephoning the recycling center would allow for adjustments if the farmer was using the road.
When someone asked how the traffic would be controlled so that the school bus could turn safely in its usual spot near the recycling facility's driveway, Imphong said the hours of the facility had not been set and would take into account safety issues such as school bus schedules.
The bus issue is a sensitive one - people clapped when the question was raised.
Another request that got a strong reaction was Todd Willhide's request that the site not be open on Sunday. Other audience members favored keeping the facility closed on Sunday, too.
Imphong said there might be weekend hours so people could have time to drop off recyclables, but he didn't know what the hours would be.
Concern about run-off
Gardner, who recycles materials at the Big Spring area recycling sessions, favors recycling but was adamant that other sites should have and could have been considered.
After the meeting, he said that a site by the county motor pool facilities near the Home Depot store would have been a better location for a recycling facility. He also said that the site used by fire companies for practice on Army Heritage Drive was owned by the county and more accessible for trucks. He said Conodoguinet Creek should be protected from possible pollution. The creek is near the site and an unnamed stream runs through Gardner's property and flows into the Conodoguinet.
During the meeting, Linda Gardner said that the authority was “destroying the site by developing farmland.”
Imphong countered that the land was destined for nonfarm use anyway, because the landfill operators had a permit to remove soil and recontour the land. Other sites were not available, Imphong said, and some sites simply were too expensive.
Gardner asked if, should hazardous materials from the site flow into the retention basin at the recycling center, the water will go into the aquifer.
Jon Gardner asked why equipment wasn't being installed to keep hazardous materials out of the retention basin.
Linda Gardner said that if there is another storm that dumps three inches of rain in a short time, the water from the recycling center will “go down that creek to Carlisle's drinking water.”
The Gardners were also concerned that people would arrive at the recycling center when it was closed and leave materials at the gates or dump them nearby.
David Gardner, Jon Gardner's brother, said the county should consider providing security officers, just as malls provide security for their parking lots and premises.
Imphong said that he couldn't justify spending taxpayer money on 24-hour security. He said perhaps cameras or occasional patrols could help with security. He said if local people see dumping or other problems at the facility, they should report it.
David Gardner, who lives in the Carlisle area, asked why the recycling center was being built in the western end of the county when so much of the population is in the other half of the county.
Imphong said that from Carlisle east to the Susquehanna River, most municipalities in Cumberland County provide or require recycling.
There are volunteer recycling programs in New Hope and the Big Spring area, but the programs are run by volunteers.
Imphong said the area of greatest need is not the populous West Shore, but the western end of Cumberland County, where most people have to hire a hauler or transport trash and recyclables themselves.
“Do surveys show if drivers will drive an hour to use the facility?” David Gardner asked.
Imphong said some people won't want to drive that distance.
“There are those people who do the right thing,” he said. “However, ideally we want to have two sites.”
Imphong returned repeatedly to one theme - the recycling center will provide a service for the greater good of the entire community.
At the end of the meeting, township Supervisor Brad Spahr brought up the issue of notification raised earlier by Jon Gardner. Letters were sent to nearby residents about the informational meeting because the plan had been approved and the authority believed it was close to signing a lease for the property where the center would be built.
“We sent you a letter that was as timely as we thought we could do it,” Spahr said. Supervisors Glenn Glesner and David Parthemore also were present.
He said Jon Gardner's letter went to many people, but not to the supervisors.
The supervisors knew that there was a need to provide recycling, he said. When approached by the authority, “we thought it was a good idea.”
Spahr encouraged people to attend municipal meetings and to contact township authorities if there were problems at the recycling center.
“We all live on this planet,” he said, “and we all generate waste of some sort.”
