City offers dumping remedy

City offers dumping remedy



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/14/08


The city proposed Wednesday to take old waste material to a landfill in Nassau County instead of returning it to its original Riberia Street site in Lincolnville, and neighbors couldn't be happier.

"I think this a great victory," said Lincolnville resident Judith Seraphin, who along with her husband Tony petitioned against the city's original plan. "They are going to keep it out of Lincolnville, and that's what we wanted all along."

The Seraphins filed a petition with Environmental Protection against the city's plan. As soon as the document was filed on Dec. 29, the project was frozen while the state investigated the plan, which is the usual procedure.

John Regan, city chief operations officer, is meeting with Nassau County officials today in hopes of striking an agreement to take some of the material to their landfill. The city would also take some of the solid waste to another landfill. And the city has found a way around the usual cost of $1 million to $2 million in tipping fees to dump the material in a landfill.

Cost was a major reason the city considering returning the fill to the Riberia Street site. Doing that would have cost about $800,000, the same as the new plan will cost, Regan said.

In addition, the city also would pay about $350,000 to monitor ground water and cap the old landfill site in Lincolnville, bringing the total cost to about $1,150,000.

In 2005, city staff took dirt from an old landfill site on Riberia Street and dumped it into a water-filled borrow pit on Holmes Boulevard. That was a violation state Department of Environmental Protection rules. The DEP fined the city and told it to remove the waste from the Holmes Boulevard site.

The city then entered a contract with the DEP to put the material back on the landfill site and form a 19-foot mound that would be monitored to prevent groundwater intrusion.

But many Lincolnville residents were vehemently against the plan. And after many public meetings, city staff began to research other options.

In the new plan, the city will pull out the material dumped at Holmes Boulevard and use heavy machinery to screen it, sifting out any solid waste. Regan expects that about 5 percent of the material is solid waste. The remaining 95 percent is clean soil that would be used to cover Nassau County's landfill, Regan said.

"Every landfill has to use daily top cover (soil) to cover the landfill to make sure birds and things don't remove items, as part of disease control," he said. "So, instead of Nassau County spending money on top soil, we would be providing it for them."

The city hopes Nassau County would then waive any fees, and the city would only have to pay for trucking the material there. The city would also pay to dump the solid waste in another landfill, not yet chosen.

The new project could also make the Seraphins' petition against the city's original plan moot.

On Wednesday, a judge with the state's Division of Administrative Hearings, overseeing the petition, gave the city 10 days to enter a new agreement with Environmental Protection and file a formal motion to stay, said City Attorney Ron Brown.

Karen Bishop, with Environmental Protection, said the agency is receptive to the new plan, and Regan said that department encouraged the city to pursue the latest proposal.

Judith Seraphin said she still wants the city to show all of its findings at the Holmes Boulevard and Riberia Street sites and reveal any closed meetings it had with Environmental Protection.

"If they don't, I'll file a new petition to get discovery," she said. "I expect to get answers."

The city has also discussed with Mike Fitzsimmons, DEP Northeast District Waste Program administrator, remedying the old landfill site on Riberia. The city plans to proceed with ground water monitoring and capping the site with clean soil, Regan said. The site was never monitored in the past. The price tag for that project is about $350,000.

If Nassau County agrees to the city's proposed plan, city staff will hold another public meeting with the Lincolnville neighborhood before bringing the project to the City Commission, Regan said.

"The public input has been very important, very critical, very helpful," he said. "The city is extremely pleased with this outcome. ... It shows the public process works."


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