Stark to ask landfill to pay for repair of 4 roads
The Akron Beacon Journal
BOLIVAR - The Stark County engineer will ask a landfill operator for money to help repair county roads used by garbage trucks en route to the company site.
Stark County Engineer Michael Rehfus said he will make that request of the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility after the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Solid Waste Management District voted twice Friday against allocating money for the repaving.
Rehfus said he was prepared to suggest that the load limits be reduced on the four county roads used by heavily loaded garbage trucks bound for the landfill in Pike Township, a move that would reduce damage to the roads but could have a major impact on garbage haulers and on the 258-acre landfill.
He said the top layer of asphalt on Dueber Avenue Southwest, Sherman Church Road, Gracemont Street and Fohl Street is crumbling in places from the heavy trucks, and repairs are needed desperately, especially on Dueber.
Garbage trucks use the county roads in three townships south of Canton to get to and from the landfill.
The garbage district's governing board, which has funded road repairs in the past, voted 4-4 on a proposal to pay $119,393, and then voted 4-4 on a second proposal to pay $147,756. Five votes were needed for passage.
Landfill manager Tim Vandersall said it is unlikely that the company will help with road repairs because it pays $2 million a year in tipping fees to the district that could be used for the project.
Will Flower, a spokesman for the landfill's parent company, Republic Services Inc. of Florida, said the district should fund the work.
Reducing the load limits as suggested by Rehfus would result in more truck traffic on the roads, which might not be a wise move, he said after the meeting.
The problem is that the district's budget from tipping fees does not include money for road projects, as it was set by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The district does not want to fund the project from its interest income of nearly $4 million.
On another matter, there was a difference of opinion on the amount of progress at the landfill regarding odors.
Vandersall reported that odors have been eliminated, and that experts hired by his company report that the landfill's synthetic liner and other protection remain intact.
Kurt Princic of the Ohio EPA later reported that the odors, although reduced, are still present and troublesome.
Republic Waste Services of Ohio is under orders from the Ohio EPA to extinguish underground fires and eliminate odors. The company agreed to pay a $1 million fine.
The problem stems from aluminum wastes in the landfill coming in contact with liquids. That chemical reaction triggered fires and odors that have been a big issue in southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties.
The company on May 25 submitted to the EPA a fire-suppression plan that includes installation of new synthetic liners atop the landfill to keep liquids and oxygen out of the 188-acre problem area -- a process that could take three to six years to complete. The plan is under review by the Ohio EPA.
View related articles:
Waste district denies funding
Countywide: years for fix - Company maintains that there's no fire at controversial landfill
EPA receives landfill plan for fire safety
