Private Landfill Plan Opposed by County Staff

On Tuesday, the Highlands County commissioners will hear a company's request for permission to build and operate a construction and demolition (C&D) landfill.

County Administrator Mike Wright and Ken Wheeler, county director of solid waste, are recommending that commissioners deny the request.

The C&D landfill request comes from The Great Fruit Company, which owns and operates a sand mine off Desert Wind Road, just west of State Road 17 and south of U.S. 98. The mine will be depleted and closed within several years, according to the company.

In a letter to county officials, attorney Bert J. Harris III said the company is seeking permission to convert the sand mining operation into a C&D landfill when it closes.

If the landfill is allowed, Harris said, at closing, it would be covered with clean fill "and planted back to some agricultural endeavor (citrus, pasture, otherwise re-forested)."

"The Great Fruit Company believes this is a responsible method of closing the sand mine, reclaiming the land, and creating continued responsible use of the property," Harris wrote.

County land-use regulations do not allow privately owned and operated landfills. All waste disposal in the county, including C&D debris, has to go to the county landfill on Arbuckle Creek Road.

Wright said he opposes any private landfill because local governments throughout the state "have had a bad history with privately held landfills, and at some point governments have often had to take them over."

"How many abandoned landfills became the responsibility of a local government?" Wright asked rhetorically. "Probably every county has one."

In his written opinion on Great Fruit Company's request, Wheeler pointed to the privately operated Sebring Landfill on Sheriff's Tower Road..

"This site was closed at taxpayer expense and then abandoned by the property owner, Wheeler said. "Sebring landfill is now owned by the county and the county will have to address any future environmental liabilities associated with the site."

Gypsum wallboard, accepted at that landfill, produced hydrogen sulfide gas, which has a rotten egg smell and caused significant odor problems in nearby residential areas of Sebring, Wheeler said.

At the county landfill, Wheeler said, gypsum wallboard is properly placed in a landfill cell which has a gas collection system to control odors.

"The requested zoning change (for Great Fruit Company) will result in the importation of waste into Highlands County, will cause hydrogen sulfide problems, and will adversely affect the county landfill finances," Wheeler said.

In fiscal year 2007-08, 12,600 tons of C&D waste disposed at the county landfill generated revenue of $318,000. During the 2006-07 fiscal year, county revenue totaled $425,000 from disposal of 17,000 of C&D waste.

Harris said allowing a private landfill would extend the operating life of the county landfill. It also would reduce the disposal cost for C&D waste because The Great Fruit Company is closer than the county landfill to many construction sites.

If land-use regulations are changed to allow private landfills, the county would probably see many requests for such operations, Wheeler said.

"Great Fruit Company has one of several sand mining operations in that immediate area," Wheeler wrote in his recommendation to commissioners, "and changing zoning for one site will probably be followed by additional similar requests."