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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01171984 - 2.5 TSE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA DATE: January 17, 1984 MATTER OF RECORD SUBJECT: County Statement on Acme Landfill Expansion . Before Corps of Engineers and Bay Conservation and Development Commission The Board this day approved a statement in support of the Acme Landfill expansion and authorized its Chair, Tom Torlakson, to present the statement at the January 19, 1984 .joint Bay Con- servation and Development Commission and the U. S . Army Corp of Engineers public hearing. In connection with the consideration of the above matter, the Board heard comments from the following persons who expressed their opposition to the proposed expansion of the Acme Landfill: A. B . McNabney, representing rot . Diablo Audubon Society Kathleen Nimr, Solid Waste Chair of the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley Dale Saunders , representing the City of Martinez David Nesmitz, representing the Sierra Club Supervisor Torlakson moved for deletion of the phrase "and we feel that the currently proposed plan for 88 acres off-site mitigation is adequate" from the second sentence in the second paragraph of. Page Z of the statement. The motion died for lack of a second , and the statement was adopted as presented. This .is a matter of record . 346 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS o� FROM: J. MICHAEL WALFORD, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR Contra DATE: January 17, 1984 Costa County SUBJECT: County Statement on Acme Landfill Expansion Before Corps. of Engineers and Bay Conservation and Development Commission Specific Requests or Recommendations & Background & Justification RECOMMENDATION The Public Works Director recommends that the Board approve a statement in support of the Acme Landfill expansion and designate a representative of the Board to present the statement at the January 19, 1984, joint Bay Conservation and Development Commission and Corps of Engineers public hearing. BACKGROUND The Acme Fill Corporation has applied to the Corps of Engineers for a permit to expand the existing landfill onto adjacent property. A consistency determination with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) Bay Plan is also required. A joint public hearing conducted by the Corps of Engineers and BCDC has been scheduled for January 19, 1984, at 4:00 p.m. in San Francisco. The proposed expansion is for 97 acres. An additional 76 acres is to be designated as a dredge material disposal area for dredgings from Pacheo and Walnut Creek Channels. The dredge material is planned to be utilized as landfill cover when it is dry. The dredge disposal area can return to its present state after removal of those deposited materials. The use of the Acme site for dredge material disposal will result in a significant savings to the County over other alternative disposal options. To compensate for loss of seasonal wetlands, the Acme Fill Corporation is approaching agreement with California Department of Fish and Game to provide 88 acres of land to be turned over to the State to be developed as wetlands. Only non-hazardous groups 2 and 3, waste will be allowed on the expanded site. The 97 acre expansion will have a capacity to serve for five years. Acme Landfill serves all of central and south County and some areas in the western and eastern areas of the County. The existing permitted area has reached capacity. There - is virtually no additional capacity left in the landfill . Since the Acme Landfill was established, in about 1949, the landfill was envisoned to expand onto the area in question. A land use permit issued by the County on December 2, 1958, included the full 200 acre parcel for landfill use. The 1977 County Solid Waste Management Plan assumed that the full 200 acres would be used as landfill. The 1982 revision to the County Solid Waste Management Plan also supports the full 200 acre expansion. The County Solid Waste Management Plans were approved by the County, cities in the County, and the California Waste Management Board. Continued on attachment: x yes Signature: Recommendation of County Administrator Recommendation of Board Committee Approve Other: Si nature s : Action of Board on: Approved as Recommended ✓Other v 00 The Board also authorized Chairman Tom Torlakson to present the attached statement at the aforementioned public hearing. Vote of Supervisors I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN a Unanimous (Absent ) AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE Ayes:�4� Noes: = 4-Z' BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON DATE SHOWN. Absent: Abstain: Attested /7 _ Orig. Div. : Public Works - EC J.RWOLSSONV CUUM CLERK AND cc: County Administrator EX OFFICIO CLERK OF THE BOARD Planning Department Acme Fill Corporation (via EC) Solid Waste Commission (via EC) By g2je=A1d=t1 DEPUTY DBO:BDOR.Stmt.Acme.6.t1 347 On July 19, 1983, the Board concurred with the County Planning Commission's action certifying the final Environmental Impact Report for the expansion. In the same action, the Board affirmed .its support of the 200 acre Acme Landfill expansion and recommended that the Corps of Engineers issue the permit. The action requested by this Board Order is consistent with the Board's previous actions. Attached is a copy of the recommended statement. 348 STATEMENT OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BEFORE THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS AND BCDC CONCERNING ACME LANDFILL EXPANSION Hearing Date January 19, 1984 My name is Tom Torlakson. I am Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County, which I am representing today. In addition, I am Vice Chairman of the Contra Costa County Solid Waste Commission, and my supervisorial district is the area where the landfill alternatives to Acme's facility are being proposed. Acme Landfill is the largest landfill in Contra Costa County and serves all of central and south Contra Costa County and some areas in the western and eastern areas of the County. There are over 400,000 people in this area. The existing permitted disposal area of the landfill is technically full; there is virtually no additional capacity left. Contra Costa County supports the proposal before you to expand the Acme Landfill . The County also supports the full 200 acre expansion that was previously proposed. We urge you to make the consistency determination approval and grant the permit immediately. There is no time left to wait. Ever since the Acme Landfill was established, about 1949, the landfill was envisioned to expand onto the area in question. A land use permit which was issued by Contra Costa County on December 2, 1958, included almost all of the 200 acre site for landfill use. The 1977 County Solid Waste Management Plan assumed that the 200 acres would be used as landfill . The 1982 revision to the County Solid Waste Management Plan supports the . full 200 acre expansion and the Plan is based on the full 200 acres being 349 used. The County Solid Waste Management Plans were approved by the County, the cities in the County and the California Waste Management Board. We recognize that a portion of the 200 acre expansion site was salt marsh wetland before being diked off early in this century. It is now diked by a flood control levee built in 1960. We supported the Acme Fill Corpor- ation's original agreement with the California Department of Fish and Game to provide 160 acres of off-site mitigation land, �nd we feel that the currently proposed plan for 88 acres off-site mitigation is adequate. The wetlands at the Acme site are of marginal quality and the ecology of the Bay/Delta system would be better served with restoration of high-quality wetlands at another site. Obviously, the site in its present state is not suitable for the water-related industry anticipated by BCDC. The proposed landfill expansion would be an interim use and would create a site usable for industry in a decade or two. Another important component of the expansion request is the proposal for disposal of maintenance dredging materials from Walnut and Pacheco Creeks. Both creeks are in need of dredging during 1984. An economic analysis contained in the Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement concluded that the cost to dispose dredgings at an alternative land disposal site is over twice the cost of disposal at the Ame site and the cost of using an aquatic disposal site is about four times the cost of disposal at the Acme site. Disposal of one million cubic yards of dredge material results in an addtional cost of $2,000,000 and $4,500,000 respectively. The County Flood Control District does not have funding for this additional cost. With increasing development, siltation is expected to increase and 350 without proper maintenance, flooding can be expected. The dried dredge material will be used as landfill cover, thereby reducing the need for importing cover material and further excavation of surrounding hills which buffer a small residential neighborhood. The County is actively pursuing methods to reduce the amount of landfill space required in the future. Two waste-to-energy projects are being planned and the County is investigating other resource recovery projects including recycling and composting. Even with these resource recovery programs, a landfill i s still needed. The five years of life the proposed 97 acre expansion will allow is barely enough time to develop a replacement landfill site. Approval of anything less than the 97 acre expansion will create a solid waste disposal crisis in Contra Costa County. In summary, the expansion of the Acme Landfill is vitally needed in Contra Costa County. Denial of the permit will result in solid waste being diverted to the two landfills in western and eastern Contra Costa County, and possibly to Alameda County. These other landfills will then reach capacity much sooner than expected and, in turn, will require replacements much sooner than expected. There is. no doubt that the cost of using new and more distant landfills will be much higher than existing landfills because of higher transportation costs, the need for a transfer station, and new regulatory requirements which add to the cost of developing a new landfill. On behalf of the citizens of Contra Costa County, I urge you to approve the expansion application and issue a permit as soon as possible. 351