PLAINFIELD TWP., Pa. — Waste Management's plan to expand its Grand Central Landfill will be heard by the Plainfield Township Planning Commission, after township supervisors Wednesday asked that board to weigh in.
Waste Management, Grand Central Landfill’s owner and operator, asked the township to rezone 211 acres of woods and farmland across Pen Argyl Road from the existing dump.
Its proposal calls for the land, currently part of the township's farm and forest zoning district, to be rezoned for solid waste processing and disposal.
In a special meeting, supervisors voted 3-2 to ask the planning commission to weigh in, the first step toward considering the zoning amendment.
Currently, Grand Central Landfill has enough space for about four more years’ worth of trash. The planned expansion would create 81 acres of new disposal area, enough to add 20 years to its useful life, according to Waste Management.
Little about the dump’s operation would change; the amount of garbage the facility accepts per day would remain the same.
More than a dozen residents of the Slate Belt spoke at Wednesday’s meeting; most, but not all, opposed the proposed expansion, citing the unpleasant odors, heavy truck traffic and other ills they said the landfill brings.
'You guys going to pay their taxes?'
But the landfill also brings millions of dollars into the township’s coffers — about $2.2 million a year, board chairman Kenneth Field said — making up an outsized portion of its annual budget.
"Nobody that came to that microphone tonight, or at any meeting ever, has said ‘here’s where we can get $2.2 million a year to close that landfill.’ That’s the problem."Plainfield Twp. Board of Supervisors Chair Kenneth Field
If it were to close, property taxes would have to more than double to make up the shortfall, he said.
“Nobody wants an expansion," Field said. "Nobody wants a landfill at all to begin with.
“Nobody that came to that microphone tonight, or at any meeting ever, has said ‘Here’s where we can get $2.2 million a year to close that landfill.’ That’s the problem.”
The question for Slate Belt residents, then, is whether keeping the landfill running is worth it.
On one side are people such as township resident Brianne Kemmerer, who worry the township’s finances will be upended by losing so much revenue, leading to higher taxes. Brianne Kemmerer is the wife of Township Supervisor Nolan Kemmerer.
“I hear people say, ‘I’ll pay extra in taxes.’ Well, that’s fine, but what about the single parents that live paycheck-to-paycheck? What about the disabled?” she said.
“Are they going to get taxed out of their houses? Are you guys going to pay their taxes?”
'Consider the health and well-being'
On the other side are people such as Debra Ubel, a Plainfield Township resident who deals with the downsides of living near the landfill and worries about what it could mean for her health.
“We already saw the effects of the existing landfill: the terrible odor, the loose plastic bags that blow in the wind and get caught in our trees, the loud truck traffic."Debra Ubel of Plainfield Township
“We already saw the effects of the existing landfill: the terrible odor, the loose plastic bags that blow in the wind and get caught in our trees, the loud truck traffic,” she said.
“Consider the health and well-being of the taxpaying citizens of Plainfield Township… I would much rather pay more in property tax.”
Several residents also bristled at Waste Management’s description of the project as a landfill “expansion,” instead arguing that it amounts to a separate, second dump across the street from the first.
The Plainfield Township Planning Commission now has 120 days to evaluate the proposed rezoning.
Though the commission will hold hearings exploring the proposal’s impacts and recommend a course of action, the final decision rests solely with the board of supervisors.
Even if the land is rezoned, Waste Management still would need to get township planning and land development approval, along with permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“This is the very first step in a long approval process,” Waste Management attorney Dan Rowley said.
