The Board of Commissioners heard impassioned pleas from both sides last Thursday during the hearing on the proposed Riverbend Landfill expansion. The 29-acre expansion would bring the landfill right up to the edge of Highway 18 (only 50 feet from road's edge) and keep the landfill open another decade.
Several Riverbend contractors and employees asked the BOC to keep the landfill operating. A host of expansion opponents cited impacts to neighboring farms, ground and river water, air quality, and tourist businesses as reasons to let the landfill close.
The BOC is following a procedure that requires them to deny Riverbend's expansion application if the expansion would require significant changes in farming practices or increases in costs. The Commissioners had been asked to follow a different procedure, applicable to enlargement of nonconforming uses, which would have required the County to deny expansion if the proposal would add any negative impacts. The BOC declined to use that procedure.
The hearing record is being held open for additional comment only until 5:00 PM this coming Tuesday evening, March 17. After that, anyone may rebut new comments up until 5:00 PM Friday, March 20. Then the record is closed.
Comments should be sent to Planning Director Mike Brandt at brandtm@co.yamhill.or.us or mailed to the Planning Department at 525 NE 4th Street, McMinnville, Oregon 97128.
The BOC will decide whether Riverbend can expand March 26 at 10:00 AM in Room 32 in the basement of the County Courthouse, 535 NE 5th Street in McMinnville.
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