Are You On The List?

"We Oppose Expansion of Waste Management's Riverbend Landfill - No Zone Change! No Expansion!"

So reads the headline on page 5 of the December 10th News-Register.  The rest of the page is filled by the names of six hundred individuals and businesses with ties to Yamhill County.

Children lent their names.  Businesses on Third Street in McMinnville.  Easterners who've walked historic McPhillips Farm and smelled and seen the landfill firsthand.  Shops and residents in Carlton where semis full of garbage pound the streets.  Doctors, shop owners, wineries.  People who live here.  People who visit.

The list will be presented to the County Board of Commissioners on December 12 at a hearing on Waste Management's proposed zone change for the landfill.  The hearing begins at 10:00 AM (details below).

On the list?  No!! - but you wish you were?  Here are three ways to get your name on the list:

1)  Send your name by 7:00 AM Thursday, December 12, to Susan Watkins, Stop the Dump Coalition, maczenith@onlinenw.com with a note:  "Add my name to the list!"  Susan will collect names and attach them to the ad for presentation to the Commissioners at the hearing.

2)  Send your name by 10:00 AM Thursday, December 12, directly to Yamhill County Planning Director Mike Brandt, brandtm@co.yamhill.or.us with a note that says something like:  "I oppose rezoning and expansion of Riverbend Landfill.  To rezone a landfill to agricultural land makes a mockery of Oregon's land use laws.  Waste Management has presented no credible plan for returning the dump to agriculture, nor has it explained how land that does not qualify as "agricultural" under state and federal law can be zoned Exclusive Farm Use.  Please reject this application."

3)  Come to the hearing and WRITE your name onto the list!

WHEN:    Thursday, December 12 at 10:00 AM
WHERE:   McMinnville Civic Hall, 200 - 2nd Street (corner Baker) McMinnville
WHY:       To Stop the Dump!

If you need more information before making up your mind, please read older posts below about why rezoning and expansion of a stinky, noisy, scavenger-friendly dump on the banks of the Yamhill River is a BAD IDEA!