The rules for adding or expanding a landfill or recycling center in Hamilton County are changing. Commissioners adopted rules for the first time last December, and voted Thursday to revise them.
It’s part of a settlement agreement after Rumpke sued the county over the original rules. Critics say the new regulations are watered down. Commissioner Denise Driehaus disagrees.
“The original concerns from the community, as I understood it, were things like noise and pollution and odor; there was some concern about the environment,” she said. “Those things are captured here.”
The new regulations require an application and community impact statement for any new or expanding waste facility. The county Director of Environmental Services will review the application and present a recommendation to commissioners, who get the ultimate decision.
Under the old rules, applications were reviewed by the Solid Waste Policy Committee. County prosecutor Pamela Sears says that could open up individual members of that committee to personal legal liability. Under the new rules, the Director of Environmental Services has the option to seek an opinion from the committee, but is not required to.
Although the new rules guarantee a public hearing before commissioners vote on a permit, critics say it comes too late in the process.
“That's at the final step of approval for the commissioners to make a final decision,” said Bob Gedert, a member of the Solid Waste Policy Committee. “The old rules said the public would have had public comment periods every step of the way in reviewing a solid waste permit.”
Another significant change is removing the requirement for a compliance report.
“One of our goals in the litigation was to streamline the process, not to prevent public input, but to make it more efficient and effective,” Sears said. “The way we did that, frankly, was to fold the compliance report into what we now call a community impact statement that's incorporated into the application process.”
The community impact statement requires a commitment to mitigate any negative impacts to health, safety and the environment. The rules list examples of noise, dust, vermin, litter, proximity to parks and ground water, traffic, lighting, historic preservation, etc.
The previously-required compliance report included all of the above but was much more comprehensive, with a long list of detailed requirements, like: compatibility with land use ordinances, increased demand on community-provided services like police and fire, projected impact on property value, impact on aesthetics, and more.
The revised regulations also include some composting facilities, in addition to solid waste and recycling facilities.
“The policy committee intentionally did not include compost facilities in the old rules,” Gedert said. “[This] will put a damper on any public/private partnerships towards developing composting within the county.”
A county representative says the new rules do not cover at-home composting.
Gedert says not only is the public cut out of meaningful participation in reviewing applications, the process of changing the rules had absolutely no public input. Commissioners have met privately in executive session several times since the lawsuit was filed.
“Obviously, we can't talk about executive session, but I just want to say that there was a lot of fighting on behalf of the citizens,” said Commission Vice President Alicia Reece.
The new rules include a provision that they can be amended by commissioners by appointing a Rules Advisory Committee to recommend changes. Gedert says he’s not optimistic because he believes Rumpke will protest any amendments.
“I do believe this is a defeat for public input processes,” he said. “I believe that this is a success for Rumpke to expand their landfill at their will without input from the public.”
No applications for a new or expanded facility were submitted under the old rules.
The new rules go into effect immediately.
See below: the new regulations in full, followed by the previous regulations in full.
New Hamilton County Solid Waste District Rules by WVXU News on Scribd
Hamilton County Solid Waste District Rules by WVXU News on Scribd
