Garbage, We've Got Garbage!

by Ilsa Perse, President, Stop the Dump Coalition

Two important garbage events coming up!

EVENT #1--Planning Commission Vote

The Yamhill County Planning Commission will vote on Waste Management's application to rezone the dump from Public Works/Safety to farmland.

WHEN: Thursday, December 5th at  7:00 PM
WHERE: McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 Second Street (corner Baker) in McMinnville
DETAILS: The public will not be allowed to speak.  The Planning Department will make its recommendation.  The Planning Commission will vote.  This vote is an ADVISORY vote.  Ultimately the County Commissioners will make the final decision.  It is important, however,  that the public (that's you) show the Planning Department and the Commissioners that you care deeply about how they vote.  The best way to do that is to show up.

EVENT #2--The BIG One--where we REALLY need you!

The REAL "deciders" meet to hear Waste Management's application to rezone the dump to farmland only one week after the Planning Commission votes. We need you there on DECEMBER 12th!

WHEN: Thursday, December 12th at 10:00 AM
WHERE: McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 Second Street (corner Baker) in McMinnville
DETAILS: The entire proceedings from the Planning Commission hearing in November will be forwarded to the County Commissioners. If you weighed in via a letter or spoke at the PC hearing, the TWO (yes, only 2) County Commissioners who will decide the zone change have your comment.  Remember, approval of this zone change guarantees that the dump will expand and our County will continue to be the dumping ground for garbage from Washington County (Metro) and the Coast for decades to come.

BUT if you didn't get to voice your concerns or you have something new to say, send your thoughts now to Planner Ken Friday at the Yamhill County Planning Department.  Tell him you do not want the County to rezone the landfill and tell him why.  Ask him to forward your comments to:   COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Kathy George and Allen Springer for the hearing on December 12th.  (Please include your name and snail mail address if you email so the Planning Department can mail you a notice of the final decision as required by law.)

Email:            fridayk@co.yamhill.or.us
Snail Mail:    Yamhill County Planning Department
                       Attn: Ken Friday
                       525 NE 4th St
                       McMinnville, OR 97128

We hope to see you at both meetings.  However, if you can make it to only one hearing, please attend on DECEMBER 12th, at 10 AM.  THANK YOU for everything you have already done to Stop the Dump!

What Next?

As you know the Yamhill County Planning Commission held its hearing on the proposal to rezone the dump to farmland back on November 7.  If the rezoning goes through, the landfill will be able to expand subject only to site design review conditions.

The PC is taking additional comments through this Thursday, November 21 at 5:00 pm (send your comments to:  fridayk@co.yamhill.or.us).*  Waste Management, which proposed the rezoning, then gets another 6 days to respond.

Despite the fact that the PC is still taking comment and won't vote on the rezoning request until its December 5 meeting, the County Board of Commissioners has already scheduled its own hearing.  That will begin Thursday, December 12 at 10:00 AM.  Both the Dec 5 (7:00 PM) and Dec 12 meetings will be held in McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 2nd Street, McMinnville (corner of Baker).

Planning Commission Hearing

The big news coming out of the PC hearing came in two flavors:

First, the County Planning Staff recommended that a Limited Use Overlay Zone be placed on all acres Waste Management owns around the dump.  The Zone would prevent waste disposal on all but 37 of those acres.

Second, the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has reclassified the soils at the dump site from high-value farm soils, Classes I-IV, to miscellaneous/dump soil.  According to the NRCS, as soon as waste is deposited on a site, the soil class changes.

In addition, the Oregon Department of Agriculture pointed out that the land itself is no longer considered "agricultural land," for two completely different reasons:  1) the soil reclassification takes the land out of the definition of ag land in Oregon Planning Goal 3 and 2) that definition explicitly excludes land removed from EFU zoning via an exception.  The PWS-zoned land beneath and around the dump was removed from EFU zoning back in 1980 via the exception process.

PC Chair Daryl Garrettson asked whether land must have farmable soils in order to be zoned EFU.  Bill Kabeiseman of Garvey Schubert Barer, the Stop the Dump Coalition's attorney, answered squarely, "Yes."

Wrote Kabeiseman:

"As required by state law, the County has implemented ORS 215.243 [purpose of EFU zoning is to protect farmland], as well as Goal 3, through the adoption of exclusive farm use zoning district.  Because the EFU district implements state policy to preserve agricultural land, land within the EFU district must meet the definition of agricultural land."

He cited a state Supreme Court decision and a Land Use Board of Appeals case to support his argument.

With respect to the proposed Overlay Zone, expansion opponents pointed out that the overlay provided little assurance that the dump would not be expanded again beyond the current anticipated 37-acre request.  Unlike a permanent conservation easement, a Limited Use Overlay Zone could easily be changed by the County in the future at the request of Waste Management or a successor owner.

Moreover, in its comments Waste Management asked that the overlay not prevent lands outside the 37-acre expansion from being used for unspecified "landfill operations."

The Stop the Dump Coalition expects to file a written response to the overlay request by this Thursday's deadline.

*Be sure to include your name and snail mail address!  The County must mail notices to each person who participates in the hearing.

Last Chance to Comment on Rezoning!

Tonight is the night!  Although the Planning Commission may well hold the record open after tonight's hearing, or may even continue the hearing to allow Waste Management to rebut all the information expansion opponents will submit, we can't count on that. 

You need to submit your comments NOW.

Many of you have already written terrific letters.  I have been privileged to read some of them, and I am proud that our little Stop the Dump Coalition is associated with each of you.  We have been blessed with terrific partners to work with.

If you have been putting off your comment, why not send it now?  The hearing won't end before 9:00 PM I'm sure, so you have plenty of time!  Send your note to:  fridayk@co.yamhill.or.us.

Some points to raise:

- If you personally or your business may be impacted by an even huger landfill right on McMinnville's door (2.3 miles from Lowe's), say so.

- If you or your employees or customers must drive past the dump to reach you, tell the PC what that is like.

- If you value farmland, point out that (1) the dump is not a farm!  (remember that the hearing tonight is to rezone the dump to farmland, which is the first step in allowing it to expand) and that (2) converting the dump to fictional farmland in order to convert adjacent actual farmland to a dump is a perversion of Oregon's land use law.

- If you value the environment, raise issues of water protection, litter, road damage, noise and light pollution, and of course odor.  The reason the dump is allowed to stink (and emit other noxious gases) is that our air is so clean!  Conundrums abound.

Thanks for all your support.  We look forward to seeing some of you and your friends and colleagues at the hearing tonight and to read your comments in the PC file.

How to Comment on Riverbend Rezoning

The best way to comment is to come to the Planning Commission Hearing!  You can speak (3 minute limit), submit your written comments, or fill out a comment card at the hearing.

The hearing is Thursday, November 7 at 7:00 pm at the McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 NE 2nd Street at Baker in McMinnville.

If you can't attend the hearing, please send your written comments by US mail or email or fax to the Planning Department!

US Mail:  Yamhill County Department of Planning & Development, 525 NE 4th Street, McMinnville, Oregon 97128

Email:  send to Ken Friday  at fridayk@co.yamhill.or.us

Fax:  (503) 434-7544

Please include your name and mailing address on your comments!  By law the County must notify everyone who submits a comment about the Planning Commission's decision, but they have to send the notice via US mail!

You might also send a hard copy of your comments to David Steiner, President and CEO of Waste Management, and W. Robert Reum, Chairman of the Board.  The mailing address for Waste Management HQ is: 1001 Fannin, Suite 4000, Houston, TX 77002.  

They both need to hear the truth from people who live with this dump everyday. 

If you need more information about the issues, please read posts below.

See you at the PC!

Landfill Expansion? Count the Ways This Is a BAD IDEA

OK, now you know why the rezoning hearing, November 7 at 7:00 pm in front of the County Planning Commission, is such a big deal (if you don't, see Why You Need to Tell the Planning Commission:  No Rezone for Riverbend! below).

But why is landfill expansion such a bad idea?

Let me count the ways....

The dump damages the County economy.  The dump sits between Highway 18 -- the busiest tourist highway in the state -- and the South Yamhill River.  Everyone driving along Hwy 18 can see the dump, and at least half the time can smell it.  Not the best advertisement for stopping in Yamhill County to enjoy the scenery (or local businesses).

The dump threatens our water.  The river itself is in jeopardy.  At least once a year river floodwaters lap against the landfill.  Given that some of the early garbage cells are unlined and improperly compacted, it is highly likely that the landfill is contaminating the Yamhill River and groundwater.

In fact, DEQ and Waste Management (Texas-based corporate owner of the landfill) concede that leachate, liquid contaminant from waste, is leaking from the dump into the ground water.  DEQ won't do anything, however, because the seepage rate has slowed over the years.  Not stopped, mind you -- slowed.

The dump is a huge magnet for birds and vermin.  The likely cause of this attraction is failure by past dump managers to properly cover the waste.  The landfill's permit requires all waste to be covered with 6" of soil or equivalent daily.  But until recently, landfill operators routinely ignored this requirement.  Consequently, birds, rats, coyotes, and other scavengers have gotten used to feasting at the dump.

Birds then leave their droppings in the river (pushing harmful E.coli readings above legal limits) and on neighboring crops.  Birds, including hordes of seagulls and starlings, also "rest" on neighboring farmland, eating young plants and contaminating soils.

Scavengers harass neighboring farm animals and infest neighboring homes and farm buildings.  Next-door-neighbor Ramsey McPhillips has killed nearly 50 rats in his farmhouse just this year (2013).  Scavengers also damage other crops including hazelnut trees.

The dump stinks.  Waste Management claims it controls odors at 50 of its 52 Western dump sites -- and Riverbend is one of the two where noxious odors roam free.  Current dump managers blame their predecessors for not properly cutting up the "decks" where trucks park to dump their loads.  In the past, we've been told, the decks were simply covered over with new waste.  Those flat areas, which truck traffic compacts, collect water that fill wells drilled to capture landfill gas.  Gas that can't use the water-filled wells finds other ways to escape from the dump, creating the awful odors that routinely gag neighbors and passersby.

The dump serves Metro, not YC.  Yes, our waste goes into Riverbend, but only about a third of what's dumped at the landfill is generated in Yamhill County.  A full 40% is trucked in from Metro, and NW Oregon counties send their waste to Riverbend.  None of this waste is sorted for recyclables, except what individuals do themselves at home.  If sorting for recycables was required before a load could be dumped, or if the landfill served only Yamhill County, no expansion would ever be required.

The dump is noisy and intrusive.  Current landfill management has changed the hours at the dump, but operations still begin before dawn and end well after dark in winter.  This means bright lights that shine into homes in the neighboring hills and truck noise and beeps that wake neighbors.

The dump means trucks!  Big semis full of garbage pound down our County and city roads, bringing tons of waste (1700 tons daily!) to Riverbend, lining up before dawn.  These trucks commonly spew litter and dust and kick up landfill dust as they leave the dump.  The city of Carlton has already appealed to Metro and ODOT to control the trucks that have damaged sewer and other sub-surface infrastructure in Carlton's downtown.  Lafayette Highway in McMinnville may be next.

The dump will fail in an earthquake.  Our region will experience a magnitude 9.0 -- ie, HUGE -- earthquake within the lifetime of the dump, if not our personal lifetimes.  The existing landfill has NOT been studied for resistance to such a huge earthquake.  In 1993, two cells were studied for vulnerability to a magnitude 7.25 earthquake, a pipsqueak compared to 9.0.  The berm, or wall, that DEQ approved earlier this year, was engineered to only a magnitude 8.5 earthquake, and though that study claimed the wall would withstand such a trembler, experts have found deep flaws with the study.

Waste Management laughs this danger off, telling people that the earthquake will cause so much damage, "no one will worry about the dump."  That is exactly the point:  With no one worrying about gas and leachate breaches at a failed dump, contaminants will escape to pollute the soil, air, and water for years.

This is the wrong location for a dump.  The neighborhood surrounding the landfill has changed dramatically since the dump was originally approved in 1980.  Relying on the understanding that the dump would reach capacity and close in 2014, many homes have been built on small (50-80 acre) farms that contribute to the County's wine and agricultural economies.  In fact, the County has identified more than 500 taxpayers owning land within 3 miles of the dump.

Businesses, many tourist-dependent, have also cropped up.  A prominent B&B overlooks the landfill, and wineries, produce stands, florists, and other businesses are sited within sight, sound, and smell of the dump.  Back in 1980, the neighbors were turkey farms and a go-cart race track.  The Riverbend neighborhood is no longer the type of site that is desirable for a landfill.

Moreover, the original 1980 dump approval called for a maximum height of 7' above ground level at Hwy 18.  Each 20-acre cell of waste was to be returned to farming when full.  By 1993, however, the County had rejected its own conditions and allowed the landfill to grow sky high and to completely fill the parcels zoned PWS (Public Works Safety).  Monitoring was so lax that the first three cells were improperly compacted, allowing contaminated liquids (leachate) to flow out of the landfill into the river and groundwater.

That original approval was, ironically enough, based on a land use exception to State Goal 3, which protects farmland.  Riverbend's first owners convinced the County that farmland was not needed at the site, which was then rezoned to PWS to allow creation of the landfill.  Thirty years later we have come full circle.

Please come to the hearing or email, mail, or fax your opposition to rezoning Riverbend to the County Planning Department by November 7 (hearing will be held at 7:00 PM at McMinnville Civic Hall, corner Baker and 2nd in McMinnville)

fridayk@co.yamhill.or.us

Yamhill County Planning & Development Department

525 NE 4th Street

McMinnville, Oregon 97128

Phone: (503) 434-7516 

Fax: (503) 434-7544

Why You Need to Tell the Planning Commission: No Rezone for Riverbend!

This Thursday, November 7, Waste Management will ask the County Planning Commission to rezone Riverbend Landfill to farmland.  Once rezoned, nothing will prevent landfill expansion now or in the future.

Show up at the Planning Commission meeting to express your opposition to this bizarre rezoning scheme!

WHEN: Thursday, November 7th  at 7:00 PM

WHERE: McMinnville Civic Center-200 Second Street at Baker

Can't attend? We'll miss you but you can still help.  Email Ken Friday (fridayk@co.yamhill.or.us) at the Yamhill County Planning Department. Tell him you want the Planning Commissioners to vote NO on Riverbend's rezoning request.   

Here's what's at stake:  Riverbend says it wants 25 more years of garbage storage on a mere 37 acres, but if the existing dump is rezoned, Riverbend will have the legal right to expand indefinitely onto the hundreds of farm acres adjacent to the dump that Waste Management  already owns.  Moreover, once the dump has expanded, Waste Management can buy the farmland next door and expand again.

Here's why:  State law allows counties to site landfills on exclusive farm use land even though landfills are not agricultural uses. Until two years ago, Yamhill County prohibited dumps on farmland.  But in the fall of 2011, the County amended its Zoning Ordinance to allow existing landfills to expand onto land zoned for farming subject only to site design review.  

Here's the catch:  The existing dump must also be in a farm zone, but Riverbend is in the PWS (Public Works Safety) zone.  Hence the need to rezone a mountain of garbage that can NEVER be farmed from PWS to Exclusive Farm Use.

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.

In 2008 Riverbend sought a 96-acre landfill expansion that would be 100 feet higher than what the dump is now.  When the County applied site design review back then, the only problem the County found was that the proposed dump was too high.  The County had no problem approving 96 additional acres of garbage, including moving a salmon-bearing creek!  The County didn't deny expansion then; don't expect the County to nix anything now.

Rezoning puts all the farmland owned by Waste Management at risk, despite the County's own Comprehensive Plan goals, which require farmland protection.  Decades down the road, Waste Management -- or any other corporation that might buy the dump -- will be allowed by the Zoning Ordinance  to continue expanding onto all contiguous EFU acreage the corporation owns.  

The dump is an eyesore, an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen, and a health risk, all on the edge of McMinnville.  YAMHILL COUNTY DESERVES BETTER.  Tell the Planning Commission to vote NO on rezoning!