By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON - Expanding the Glendale Road landfill would be a safe and economical way to dispose of the region's solid waste, the Board of Public Works declared in a unanimous vote Wednesday night. At the same time, the board referred the final decision on the matter to City Council.
The meeting, which drew about 50 residents to the Community Room at JFK Middle School on Bridge Road, featured a lengthy public comment session during which both sides had their chance to weigh in.
Prior to public comment, Terry Culhane, chairman of the city's Board of Public Works, clearly laid out what the board was charged with doing and defended the reasoning behind its final determination.
"We set out to answer two questions: Is it even a choice, and is it a good choice, one we can safely consider," Culhane said, referring to the board's research. He added, "We've spent years on this. We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars working on this question and I feel, and the board feels, that in the face of what is clearly a strong negative reaction from the people within the city, that it would be a real shame to just walk away from all that work. What happens in the future is going to be a function of what the City Council and the mayor's office decide to do."
Culhane said that when the landfill reaches capacity some time in the next year, the existing facility will have to be closed. Now that the board has completed research on its safety, he said, the final challenge will be both political and financial and should be left to City Council.
"We recognize that any decision to expand the landfill has a non-technical dimension which is beyond the scope of our board," the motion read. "However, on practical, environmental and economic merits, the BPW is prepared to make a final recommendation to the city."
Ward 6 City Councilor Marianne LaBarge, clearly upset with what she called the board's decision to "flop the question along to City Council and leave it on us," said that after visiting residents directly affected by fumes emitted by the landfill, she had hoped the board would call for its permanent closure.
"You should go into the homes that I have been in, and see the little children deathly ill with their mothers. I have a serious problem with what is occurring around the whole perimeter of this landfill," LaBarge said.
Also speaking in opposition was Mimi Odgers, chairwoman of Water Not Waste, an organization established to fight landfill expansion, who said the board was just "passing the buck." She compared the city's dependency on funding generated from the landfill to a drug addiction.
"I keep thinking of this as an addiction, and our addiction to this landfill has been going on for 40 years," Odgers said.
However, not all those present opposed a landfill expansion. Peter Flynn, 47, of 848 Ryan Road, was one of several residents who worried that transporting garbage generated in Northampton to other parts of the country would just be sending the problem elsewhere, and could result in even less recycling among city residents.
"I mainly object to taking our garbage, putting it into trucks and sending it off to someone else," Flynn said. "Because once it drives away from us we don't know whose water we are polluting. I think we should just keep our own garbage, and if that means expanding the landfill, then we have to figure out a way to do that safely."
Sharing Flynn's distaste for any plan that would relocate waste was Geoffrey Kuter, of 292 Elm St., who said after spending 35 years working in the recycling business, he doesn't necessarily support landfills, but thinks sending trash elsewhere would only increase the city's already poor recycling record.
"When the landfill is closed, our waste will go elsewhere and it will end up either in an incinerator or a landfill. Taxes will go up, sticker fees will go beyond $2 a bag and the revenue the city is now generating will be lost," Kuter said.
Now that the landfill debate has moved beyond the BPW, Culhane said the board would wait for approval from City Council, rather than send along a request for a special permit for heavy public use, because members felt "the process is stuck and we can't unstick it."
The one-and-a-half-page motion, which was amended slightly before its passage, will be made available on the city's Web site, www.northamptonma.gov/dpw/solidwaste.
The motion
"Resolved: The BPW, after carefully considering the expert reports and citizen input, has determined that the expansion of the Glendale Road Landfill is a safe and responsible option for solid waste disposal in the region. While we recognize that the citywide discussion has been a controversial and difficult process, we feel the weight of the evidence supports our final determination. We are persuaded that a local landfill is a safe, convenient, environmentally sound and economical method for the City to handle the solid waste generated by the residences and businesses in Northampton and the region.
We are concerned about whether or not the city can develop a strategy to avoid potential litigation, and we must adequately address the financial challenges associated with a temporary landfill closure by securing a waste stream of sufficient size to support the landfill expansion program costs. We also recognize that a local facility would enhance the development and management of forward-looking recycling and waste-handling programs.
The next step would normally be to prepare an application for a site approval plan. This would require allocating additional staff resources as well as more funds in technical assistance and design. However, without a clear indication of City support, we have decided not to pursue further investment in development of the landfill expansion project at this time."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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