Nassau County may take waste material

Nassau County may take waste material

City seeks deal to remove illegally dumped dirt

By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 04/07/08

St. Augustine could soon enter into a deal with Nassau County to take illegally dumped waste material to its landfill, ending three years of the city wrestling with how to handle the issue.

"I would like to see this happen. I'm ready for it," said Lee Pickett, Nassau County landfill director. "But the agreement still has to go before our county commission. They have the final say."

St. Augustine will give Nassau County a draft interlocal agreement this week that will then go before the Nassau County Commission in about a month, said John Regan, St. Augustine chief of operations.

In 2005, St. Augustine 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 violated 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 originally entered an agreement with the state to return the waste material to the Riberia site, but neighbors vehemently fought it. Residents Tony and Judith Seraphin filed a petition with the DEP on Dec. 29 against the plan, freezing the project while the state investigated, which is the usual procedure.

Residents worried that material was toxin-filled and hazardous, but Pickett said that's not the case.

"(DEP) is for us taking this material, and our site won't take hazardous material," Pickett said pointing to a large sign stating this at the entry to his landfill. "I think this stuff just got a bad name from the beginning. I don't think it's as bad as everyone thinks."

A letter from Greg Strong, DEP district director in Jacksonville, written March 13 endorses the city's proposed agreement with Nassau County and outlines the procedures the city must use to clean the material.

Some of the public said the state was using the city's test results of the waste material and they wanted an outside source to sample it. The Seraphins still want independent testing done. Regan has offered to have the city pay for it, but he hopes the new agreement with Nassau would resolve the issue.

Under St. Augustine's 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.

Pickett said the plan would save his landfill money. Nassau pays $1.50 a ton for top soil, which is used daily to cover the landfill. St. Augustine would give the landfill 40,000 tons of top soil and have it transported to the landfill.

The project will cost St. Augustine roughly $800,000.

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

If Nassau County Commission agrees to the plan, the St. Augustine City Commission will also have to approve it before it becomes final, Regan said.

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