It may be too late to dine but not to hear the good news about what our local Farm Bureau and Friends of Yamhill County have been up to. Attend their dinners this week! Learn about GMO at the Farm Bureau meeting and about agro-tourism at FYC.
Farm Bureau dinner: Saturday, November 2, at 5:30 at Golden Valley Brew Pub, Third and Johnson in McMinnville. Contact Marie Schmidt at mschmidt@linfield.edu for more information.
Friends of Yamhill County: Monday, November 4, at Community Plate, Third Street in McMinnville. Contact Ilsa Perse at ilsap@earthlink.net for more info.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Nov 7th Planning Commission Meeting Looms Large
As noted below ("Riverbend Expansion Is Back!"), the Yamhill County Planning Commission will consider rezoning the dump to farmland at its November 7th meeting.
Absurd as it may sound, this is the first -- and the most crucial -- step toward expanding the landfill.
Here's what's at stake: Riverbend says it wants 25 years on 37 acres (bad enough, right?) but what Riverbend will get if the dump is rezoned is the legal right to expand indefinitely so long as it owns farmland adjacent to the dump.
Here's why: State law allows counties to permit landfills on exclusive farmland even though landfills are not agricultural uses. Until two years ago, Yamhill County actually prohibited dumps on farmland. But in the fall of 2011, the County Zoning Ordinance was amended to allow existing landfills to expand onto farmland subject only to site design review. The catch is that the existing dump must also be on farmland.
Waste Management, Riverbend's Texas-based corporate owner, is telling everyone that the rezoning is no big deal because the County still has to approve specific expansion plans. The trouble is, the County can't deny the expansion once the rezoning is approved -- it can only require expansion to meet the very basic requirements of a site design review. The Zoning Ordinance specifically prohibits the County from requiring the dump to meet tougher standards.
If you were around in 2008 and remember the gi-normous expansion Riverbend sought then (96 acres!), you probably also remember that except for the height (which Waste Management thought should be twice what it is today), that expansion passed site design review. Don't expect the County to nix anything smaller.
Absurd as it may sound, this is the first -- and the most crucial -- step toward expanding the landfill.
Here's what's at stake: Riverbend says it wants 25 years on 37 acres (bad enough, right?) but what Riverbend will get if the dump is rezoned is the legal right to expand indefinitely so long as it owns farmland adjacent to the dump.
Here's why: State law allows counties to permit landfills on exclusive farmland even though landfills are not agricultural uses. Until two years ago, Yamhill County actually prohibited dumps on farmland. But in the fall of 2011, the County Zoning Ordinance was amended to allow existing landfills to expand onto farmland subject only to site design review. The catch is that the existing dump must also be on farmland.
Waste Management, Riverbend's Texas-based corporate owner, is telling everyone that the rezoning is no big deal because the County still has to approve specific expansion plans. The trouble is, the County can't deny the expansion once the rezoning is approved -- it can only require expansion to meet the very basic requirements of a site design review. The Zoning Ordinance specifically prohibits the County from requiring the dump to meet tougher standards.
If you were around in 2008 and remember the gi-normous expansion Riverbend sought then (96 acres!), you probably also remember that except for the height (which Waste Management thought should be twice what it is today), that expansion passed site design review. Don't expect the County to nix anything smaller.
The Planning Commission meets Thursday, November 7, at 7:00
PM at McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 2nd Street at Baker in McMinnville. Attend in person or send written
comments to brandtm@county.yamhill.or.us -- or both!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Important Meetings Regarding Riverbend!
Two important meetings
regarding the future of Riverbend Landfill are coming up in the next two weeks!
Mark your calendars and
SHOW UP! This is our chance to
change the future of the landfill.
Expansion:
On November 7, 2013, Waste
Management will ask the Yamhill County Planning Commission to rezone the land
beneath the dump to EF-80 -- farmland.
Although this sounds absurd, this is a necessary step that will allow
the dump to expand!
But it is far from a minor,
preliminary step. Once the land is
rezoned, the only thing standing in the way of expansion will be a site design
review by the County Planning Department.
The huge expansion proposed back in 2008 passed site design review with
only one change -- after a public outcry, the planners imposed a maximum height
on the landfill.
We don't expect height to
be an issue this time. But we do
expect Waste Management to seek expansion of at least 37 acres, which means 25
more years of trucks, noise, stink, birds, lights, litter, and uncontrolled
waste dumped on the banks of our river.
And the rezoning they are seeking would give them the legal right to
expand onto a minimum of 87 acres.
See related story
"Riverbend Expansion Is Back!" below dated Sunday, October 20, for
more details. Comment below or
contact the Stop the Dump Coalition with your questions.
Meeting November 7, 2013,
at 7:00 PM at McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 NE 2nd Street near Baker in
McMinnville.
Air
Quality Permit:
On Wednesday, October 23,
2013, DEQ and Waste Management host the semi-annual Air Quality Meeting. Learn about changes to the dump's air
permit and also about DEQ's new Odor Nuisance Strategy. For details, see story "Air
Quality Meeting Wednesday October 23" immediately below.
Meeting October 23, 2013, at 6:00 (pizza) and 7:00 (meeting itself) at McMinnville Senior Center, 2250 NE McDaniel Lane in McMinnville.
Air Quality Meeting Wednesday, October 23
This fall's air quality meeting, hosted by DEQ's Gary Andes and Waste Management (WM), will take place this coming Wednesday, October 23, at the Senior Center, 2250 NE McDaniel Lane in McMinnville. WM provides pizza at 6:00 with the meeting starting at 7:00.
Federal environmental law requires landfills to meet standards in an air quality permit issued under Title V of the Clean Air Act. Last December many members of the community testified at a DEQ (Oregon Department of Environmental Quality) hearing regarding proposed changes to Riverbend's air quality permit.
At Wednesday's meeting, Gary Andes will discuss these changes to the permit and take questions and comments. WM will try to wow us with their super-duper upgraded odor management, which doesn't seem to have made a difference out in the neighborhood. The dump is just too darn big!
One issue that neighbors have recently raised with DEQ and WM is "odor training." People who live and work near the dump and others who must drive by would be offered the opportunity to learn the different odors the dump gives off: garbage, gas (rotten egg smell), exhaust from the LandFillGasToEnergy plant (a hint of diesel), leachate, and perhaps others. We can raise this idea at the meeting.
Another topic to raise is the effect -- if any! -- DEQ's new Odor Nuisance Strategy might have on Riverbend's operations. Odor is defined as a nuisance in Riverbend's air permit, but DEQ has refused to enforce this condition. In 2013, following complaints about compost sites around the state, DEQ finally redefined its policy. You can judge for itself whether it is any better. Check out the Strategy at http://www.oregon.gov/deq/Pages/index.aspx; look under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the page.
We wish we could have warned you about this meeting earlier, but it was set at the last minute. Andes explained that the delay was due to the federal government shutdown. DEQ had asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve changes in WM's air quality permit that would have moved the fall meeting to November. The shutdown prevented the EPA from commenting on that change, so the meeting had to be scheduled quickly to comply with Riverbend's current permit, which requires a meeting in October.
See you there!
Where: McMinnville Senior Center
2250 NE McDaniel Lane
McMinnville
When: 6:00 - pizza and mingling
7:00 meeting begins
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Federal environmental law requires landfills to meet standards in an air quality permit issued under Title V of the Clean Air Act. Last December many members of the community testified at a DEQ (Oregon Department of Environmental Quality) hearing regarding proposed changes to Riverbend's air quality permit.
At Wednesday's meeting, Gary Andes will discuss these changes to the permit and take questions and comments. WM will try to wow us with their super-duper upgraded odor management, which doesn't seem to have made a difference out in the neighborhood. The dump is just too darn big!
One issue that neighbors have recently raised with DEQ and WM is "odor training." People who live and work near the dump and others who must drive by would be offered the opportunity to learn the different odors the dump gives off: garbage, gas (rotten egg smell), exhaust from the LandFillGasToEnergy plant (a hint of diesel), leachate, and perhaps others. We can raise this idea at the meeting.
Another topic to raise is the effect -- if any! -- DEQ's new Odor Nuisance Strategy might have on Riverbend's operations. Odor is defined as a nuisance in Riverbend's air permit, but DEQ has refused to enforce this condition. In 2013, following complaints about compost sites around the state, DEQ finally redefined its policy. You can judge for itself whether it is any better. Check out the Strategy at http://www.oregon.gov/deq/Pages/index.aspx; look under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the page.
We wish we could have warned you about this meeting earlier, but it was set at the last minute. Andes explained that the delay was due to the federal government shutdown. DEQ had asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve changes in WM's air quality permit that would have moved the fall meeting to November. The shutdown prevented the EPA from commenting on that change, so the meeting had to be scheduled quickly to comply with Riverbend's current permit, which requires a meeting in October.
See you there!
Where: McMinnville Senior Center
2250 NE McDaniel Lane
McMinnville
When: 6:00 - pizza and mingling
7:00 meeting begins
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Riverbend Expansion Is Back!
The
Yamhill County Planning Commission (PC) will hold a public hearing Thursday, November 7th
to consider Waste Management's latest move to expand Riverbend Landfill. The PC will meet at 7:00 PM at McMinnville
Civic Hall, 200 2nd Street at Baker in McMinnville.
The issue
before the PC is whether to rezone the landfill to farmland. Sounds crazy, but the dump can't be expanded
unless it sits on farmland. Should the
rezoning be allowed, the public will have virtually no way to prevent the
expansion of the dump. Each time the dump asks to expand, all that will be required is a site design review, a process that did nothing to prevent dump
expansion the first time around back in 2008-2009.
If the PC,
and then the Board of Commissioners, approve the rezoning, this regional
landfill will be able to pile out-of-county garbage next to our river for 20
more years.
Preventing
the landfill from being rezoned to farmland is what matters. Please come to the hearing on November 7th
to tell the Planning Commission that this rezoning is a very bad idea. The PC needs to hear how strongly the
community opposes this plan. A strong
turnout from expansion opponents will send a clear message to the Planning
Commission and the County Commissioners. You can testify in person and/or submit written comments via mail and email (send to
Planning Director Mike Brandt at brandtm@co.yamhill.or.us). Whether you speak up orally or in writing, your presence is important!
The PC
will be acting under Zoning Ordinance 867, which the Board of Commissioners
adopted in September 2011. That
Ordinance allows a landfill to expand onto adjacent farmland only if the
landfill itself is on EFU land. Here’s
where things get complicated. Riverbend
Landfill is currently NOT on EFU land. It is on land zoned Public Works Safety, the zone the Commissioners assigned the land back in the 80’s in order to allow the landfill to be sited
next to the Yamhill River in the first place.
Here is
the language from Zoning Ordinance 867 that explains how the dump can expand
onto adjacent farmland. Ordinance 867 allows:
“The
maintenance, expansion or enhancement of an existing site on the same tract for
the disposal of solid waste for which a permit has been granted under ORS
459.245 by the Department of Environmental Quality, together with equipment,
facilities or buildings necessary for its operation. The use must satisfy the standards set forth
in ORS 215.296(1)(a) and (b) and the standards set forth in Section 1101, Site
Design Review. The maintenance,
expansion or enhancement of an existing use on the same tract on high-value
farmland is permissible only if the existing use is wholly within a farm use
zone . No other Yamhill County Zoning Ordinance criteria or Comprehensive
Plan goal or policy shall apply as an approval standard for this use.”
State law ORS 215.296(1)(a) and (b) provide that the use must be
compatible with farming. Section 1101 is
the portion of the Yamhill County Zoning Ordinance that sets standards for site
design review. Neither are as strict or
comprehensive as the standards for a rezoning.
Now is the time your voice must be heard!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Letter from Leonard
Note: Leonard Rydell, former engineer at Riverbend Landfill, has been sharing his thoughts with government officials and the public for several years. Here is his latest take on the dump.
October 4, 2013
Dear Friends,
When I first started my investigations into Riverbend Landfill, I was advised by two people that I respect to be diplomatic and to try to not ruin people's reputation, as people make mistakes in life, and one mistake should not overshadow decades of positive efforts. I took that to heart.
Early on, I tried to do that with Yamhill County Commissioner Kathy George, but once the words "Riverbend Landfill" were mentioned, she declined the meeting. I didn't even try with Mary Stern as it was well known that she had recused herself.
I have tried calling the Commissioners several times, but when "Riverbend Landfill" was mentioned, none would take the call. When I asked them to call back, they didn't. When I e-mailed them on a public safety issue last February, County Counsel left a voice mail requesting that I quit contacting them. I have the recording.
In December 2012, I filed formal written zoning and land use complaints and sent them by registered mail to the Yamhill County Commissioners, Planners Mike Brandt and Ken Friday, and the Yamhill County Planning Commission. Ken Friday did call me and said that he "didn't see a problem." When I started asking specific questions, he stated, "I hope that you have a nice day, a very nice day" and hung up. He has hung up a few times since. I asked a Planning Commissioner if he had received a copy of my complaint, and he said, "No."
I called and talked to the Yamhill County Code Compliance Officer, and he told me that he was instructed to not investigate or respond to my complaint.
I have great respect and am on a first name basis with the Yamhill County Commissioners and the Yamhill County Planning staff. I work with them frequently, find them very knowledgeable, and am proud that they generally represent my best interests. However, with Riverbend Landfill, they are pursuing expansion at any cost and contrary to good engineering judgment and our local planning regulations. Consequently, Riverbend Landfill has evolved from a facility that was to meet our needs for 50 years through the year 2032 and was to be returned to farming, into the present 160 foot high unstable plastic covered pile of garbage. This is not right.
Many of my concerns are planning related, i.e. why is Riverbend Landfill allowed to ignore original approval conditions, setbacks and height limits? Or other engineering and environmental standards such as unapproved mining in the floodway, failure to meet earthquake standards, and unapproved fill in the floodway and flood plain? Why does Riverbend Landfill Company get special treatment when the rest of us have to live by the rules? I see disparities in my engineering practice. This week, I turned down a client who needed a no-rise certificate for a house he built in the flood plain. He probably won't be able to get it. Yet, Riverbend Landfill Company has built a 160 foot high pile of garbage in 40 acres of the floodway and flood plain.
I finally sent an e-mail to the Commissioners on Monday, 30 September 2013 asking them to respond to my past complaints by 5:00 pm yesterday (3 October 2013). As a result, I did receive a couple of phone calls from the current County Counsel Chris Boenisch requesting additional information. I sent him a mass of information including my formal complaints and Riverbend Information E-Mails. However, by of the end of yesterday, I had not received any further communications from him or the Commissioners.
Is it ethical for our elected and hired public officials to ignore public safety issues? Is it ethical for them to unequally apply planning regulations? Is it ethical to not respond to a complaint or even be open to discuss the issues?
Is it ethical for myself, a Professional Engineer in the State of Oregon with professional responsibilities to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, to not raise concerns when I know that I am right?
I can fully understand that Yamhill County and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality are already 30 years down the road of endorsing and approving poor practices, and it is difficult for them to admit that they created a problem and are wrong, but is that the right answer and in Oregon's best interests?
When you are in a hole, shouldn't you stop digging?
I would appreciate your comments and questions.
Thank you.
Leonard
Leonard A. Rydell, P.E., P.L.S., W.R.E.
601 Pinehurst Drive
Newberg, Oregon 97132-1625
Home Office: 503-538-5700
Fax: 503-538-9167
Mobile: 503-781-4138
October 4, 2013
Dear Friends,
When I first started my investigations into Riverbend Landfill, I was advised by two people that I respect to be diplomatic and to try to not ruin people's reputation, as people make mistakes in life, and one mistake should not overshadow decades of positive efforts. I took that to heart.
Early on, I tried to do that with Yamhill County Commissioner Kathy George, but once the words "Riverbend Landfill" were mentioned, she declined the meeting. I didn't even try with Mary Stern as it was well known that she had recused herself.
I have tried calling the Commissioners several times, but when "Riverbend Landfill" was mentioned, none would take the call. When I asked them to call back, they didn't. When I e-mailed them on a public safety issue last February, County Counsel left a voice mail requesting that I quit contacting them. I have the recording.
In December 2012, I filed formal written zoning and land use complaints and sent them by registered mail to the Yamhill County Commissioners, Planners Mike Brandt and Ken Friday, and the Yamhill County Planning Commission. Ken Friday did call me and said that he "didn't see a problem." When I started asking specific questions, he stated, "I hope that you have a nice day, a very nice day" and hung up. He has hung up a few times since. I asked a Planning Commissioner if he had received a copy of my complaint, and he said, "No."
I called and talked to the Yamhill County Code Compliance Officer, and he told me that he was instructed to not investigate or respond to my complaint.
I have great respect and am on a first name basis with the Yamhill County Commissioners and the Yamhill County Planning staff. I work with them frequently, find them very knowledgeable, and am proud that they generally represent my best interests. However, with Riverbend Landfill, they are pursuing expansion at any cost and contrary to good engineering judgment and our local planning regulations. Consequently, Riverbend Landfill has evolved from a facility that was to meet our needs for 50 years through the year 2032 and was to be returned to farming, into the present 160 foot high unstable plastic covered pile of garbage. This is not right.
Many of my concerns are planning related, i.e. why is Riverbend Landfill allowed to ignore original approval conditions, setbacks and height limits? Or other engineering and environmental standards such as unapproved mining in the floodway, failure to meet earthquake standards, and unapproved fill in the floodway and flood plain? Why does Riverbend Landfill Company get special treatment when the rest of us have to live by the rules? I see disparities in my engineering practice. This week, I turned down a client who needed a no-rise certificate for a house he built in the flood plain. He probably won't be able to get it. Yet, Riverbend Landfill Company has built a 160 foot high pile of garbage in 40 acres of the floodway and flood plain.
I finally sent an e-mail to the Commissioners on Monday, 30 September 2013 asking them to respond to my past complaints by 5:00 pm yesterday (3 October 2013). As a result, I did receive a couple of phone calls from the current County Counsel Chris Boenisch requesting additional information. I sent him a mass of information including my formal complaints and Riverbend Information E-Mails. However, by of the end of yesterday, I had not received any further communications from him or the Commissioners.
Is it ethical for our elected and hired public officials to ignore public safety issues? Is it ethical for them to unequally apply planning regulations? Is it ethical to not respond to a complaint or even be open to discuss the issues?
Is it ethical for myself, a Professional Engineer in the State of Oregon with professional responsibilities to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, to not raise concerns when I know that I am right?
I can fully understand that Yamhill County and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality are already 30 years down the road of endorsing and approving poor practices, and it is difficult for them to admit that they created a problem and are wrong, but is that the right answer and in Oregon's best interests?
When you are in a hole, shouldn't you stop digging?
I would appreciate your comments and questions.
Thank you.
Leonard
Leonard A. Rydell, P.E., P.L.S., W.R.E.
601 Pinehurst Drive
Newberg, Oregon 97132-1625
Home Office: 503-538-5700
Fax: 503-538-9167
Mobile: 503-781-4138
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