We are all especially busy these days, but here's something any of us can do just sitting at our computer:
Send an email to the Yamhill County Planning Department saying you oppose expansion of Riverbend Landfill.
Many of you did this just one year ago. And your comments made a difference. In 2013, the Planning Commission voted not to approve Waste Management's rezoning application. But that was then, and this is now. After that rezoning ultimately passed the Board of Commissioners, Waste Management submitted the expansion plan under review today.
You can make a difference again with the Planning Commission. Let them know that you oppose expanding a giant mountain of trash onto high value farmland, next to a river, in a seismic hazard zone, on the gateway highway into Yamhill County and McMinnville. Tell them what it is about the dump that affects you most.
The way Waste Management has planned this expansion, the mountain of rotting garbage will move closer to McMinnville -- less than two miles away. Even Waste Management has said that a landfill should not be that close to a town! Moreover, this part of the expansion would be so close to Waste Management's property line that no screening may be possible. Imagine what that will look like every day.
The expansion will also bring the landfill a lot closer to Highway 18, where the garbage will cover high-value farmland and wetland and riparian areas. This new "wing" of the landfill will start just 35' from the highway's edge and rise in a steep 140-foot wall topped with a road part way up. This "wall" will run right down Highway 18 for half a mile!
Riverbend is already the biggest eyesore on the drive between Yamhill County and the coast. Even without this expansion, the dump will welcome visitors to the County for decades to come. The expansion will keep the landfill active at least 15 additional years with equipment, noise, odor, litter, dust, and traffic greeting travelers in our County. It will be the smell in the air that will bid people farewell as they leave our County. This is not how we want visitors to remember our beautiful valley.
We don't need this legacy. Oregon has hundreds of years of landfill capacity already. We don't need to expand any landfill in Oregon, let alone this one.
You can read about the expansion here.
The deadline for comments to the Planning Dept. is 5:00 PM on December 23rd. You can mail a comment to Planning Director Mike Brandt at 525 NE 4th Street, McMinnville, Oregon 97128, or email him: brandtm@co.yamhill.or.us. The Department has promised to post electronic comments online. To see other comments already submitted, go to the address above.
Many of you have sent in your comments already. Thank you! And thank you for all your help over the years.
Best wishes for the Holiday season and the coming New Year.
- the Stop the Dump Coalition
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