TONTITOWN -- Expansion of Northwest Arkansas' only landfill was tabled until at least Aug. 31 on Tuesday by the Tontitown Planning Commission as residents opposed another 12-year extension of the useful life of the 42-year-old facility.
"I acknowledge landfills are vital infrastructure, but we've borne this too long," Tontitown resident Jami Morgan told the commission. The area around the landfill has developed greatly since the landfill opened 42 years ago, she said. There are other, more remote regions more appropriate for landfill use, she argued.
But the closest options available for hauling away the trash of Tontitown and every other town in the region are in Oklahoma, said commission chairman Rocky Clinton who voted against delaying a vote on the measure in a 3-2 vote. Other commission members wanted to see if residents' concerns could be addressed more.
The commission considered a large-scale development plan that includes expanding the landfill space at the site by a total of 22 acres. Without the expansion, the landfill now has the capacity to continue operation for another three years, officials for current operator Waste Management Inc. told the commission. The development plan includes improvements such as a wheel-washing facility to reduce the debris brought in by trucks and other changes to address area resident complaints.
Local complaints about noise, debris from the trucks going to the site and smell never get addressed, at least a half-dozen residents told the commission from a crowd of at least 50 who attended the meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at city hall. City officials tell residents to take their complaints to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Morgan and others said. The department tells them to take their complaints to the city.
Waste Management marketing manager George Wheatley attended Tuesday's meeting and responded. The landfill complies with all city and state requirements and is vital to the region as the only operating landfill in the Northwest Arkansas area, he said. The proposed expansion plan directly addresses their issues, he said.
The residents attending the meeting asked the commission to appoint a group of interested parties including area resident representatives to consider an agreement in writing to address local concerns.
Clinton also told Waste Management managers attending the meeting that the city had sought answers from the company on noise issues for weeks but never got a response.
Clinton told the audience the city has no good options for its trash disposal if the landfill closes.
"I think it takes years to get approval from the federal government to open up a new facility like that," Clinton said. "I don't think there's a three-year answer to shutting them down."
Then make the 15 years of capacity by expanding the landfill a final limit, Morgan said. That is a decision beyond the purview of the commission, city planning staff advised the commission. The commission's purpose is to make sure the plan complies with city legal requirements.
Debate about this proposed expansion has gone on for four years, starting when expansion plans were first announced, Clinton said.
"Everybody on this board has had at least seven months to look into this," he said, arguing against further delay.
The landfill is in the southwest corner of Tontitown.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality performed a site investigation of the landfill's proposed expansion on Sept. 5, 2018.
"Based on the information gathered during this preliminary site investigation, the ADEQ Office of Land Resources has no site specific limitations identified that would preclude the expansion of the Class 1 and Class 4 landfill in their proposed locations," the inspection concludes. However, the inspectors did recommend four items in the landfill to be addressed.
According to those inspection documents, Class 1 landfills can accept household waste and other such non-hazardous material. Class 4 landfills can accept bulky wastes such as construction and demolition wastes, furniture, appliances and minor amounts of yard waste.
Waste Management proposes to increase the size of its existing, active Class 1 landfill by 10 acres along the landfill's southern edge. This portion would be farther from the existing Class 1 landfill than the outermost rim of the current landfill is now. The proposed expansion would take up the space between the current Class 1 landfill and the closed, older landfill site on the property.
The expansion proposed for the Class 4 landfill would take in another 12 acres along the existing site's northern border. The Class 1 and Class 4 landfills together add up to about 175 acres, with the Class 4 being about 40 acres, a spokesman for Waste Management said.
