By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com
The Lee County Board of Commissioners saw a wave of opposition Monday night to a plan that would see a construction and demolition landfill placed on 116 acres at Amos Bridges and Colon roads.
Liberty Waste of Raleigh first approached the Board of Commissioners in September with the project, asking for a franchise agreement that would allow the operation to move forward. Liberty Waste operates 11 similar facilities across North Carolina.
The commissioners approved updates to that county’s solid waste ordinance following that request in September, but didn’t grant or deny the franchise agreement. A public hearing on the matter on Monday brought out both neighbors and area business interests who opposed the project.
“I know y’all probably can’t hear it, you can’t see it and you can’t smell it, but for as long as I can remember, Colon’s been like a second class place,” said Spencer Smith, who lives on Amos Bridges Road. “It’s been crapped on, they wouldn’t fix the roads, and they still won’t fix the railroad tracks. It’s knocking everybody’s cars out of line. And I don’t think this company should be allowed to operate in this county.”
Jerry Pedley also lives on Amos Bridges Road and owns Mertek Solutions. Pedley has been involved in the past with economic development issues in Lee County and said a landfill in the area would go against the area’s character.
“The city limits are everywhere around this landfill,” he said, naming housing developments, businesses and more that are all nearby. “And it’s all connected by Colon Road. It’s an important road for us all, and we want to put a landfill there?”
Jamie Kelly served as a Democratic member of the Board of Commissioners from 2006 to 2010 and said he got into politics because of a different landfill proposal.
“When I was on this board, we closed a (construction and demolition) landfill in Lemon Springs because it wasn’t doing enough business. That landfill is still there, and it’s not at capacity,” he said. “So if we need this big push for a landfill, reopen that landfill. Get the tipping fees from that, if that’s the case.”
Steven Sloan, who lives on Colon Road, said he was concerned about increased traffic.
“I’ve got grandkids,” he said. “If they come I won’t be able to let them out to play in the yard because of all the dump trucks, and I don’t feel like having a grandkid killed.”
Darrell Parker also spoke, noting he lives “a few hundred yards away.”
“Sites like this impact home values,” he said. “We’ve all worked hard for our properties. If something were to come in that might not be of real use, it’s a shame to do that.”
It wasn’t just nearby residents who took issue with the proposal. Both individuals involved in business, and the CEO of the area’s economic development operation were present and spoke against the project.
Jimmy Randolph leads the Sanford Area Growth Alliance and was present Monday night to clarify that the proposal “is not a SAGA led project, and the presentation you received was not on behalf of SAGA.”
“It was characterized as an economic development project with a code name, which may have led some in the audience to conclude that this project was in some way endorsed or recommended to the commissioners by SAGA. That is not the case.”
He went on to say that SAGA’s leadership “is not convinced of the need for a (construction and demolition) landfill physically located in Lee County. Nor have we been approached by county leadership … for assistance in exploring the possibility. If the county’s leadership is convinced that there’s a compelling need … we strongly urge you to pursue a location somewhere other than the Colon Road thoroughfare.”
Randolph mentioned recent economic development successes in the area, citing the location of Bharat Forge’s plant, life sciences manufacturer Astellas, and more. He said placing a landfill nearby would send the wrong message to other prospective industries looking to locate nearby.
“If we lose out on a 100 million or quarter billion dollar advanced manufacturing project because we can’t supply adequate power or because a company wishes to be closer to downtown Raleigh, or because we don’t have enough of a particular type of housing stock, so be it. But if we lose a project because we chose to grant a franchise for a C&D landfill that we didn’t particularly need, on property adjacent to an otherwise prime industrial site, that would be on us,” he said.
Representatives from companies working on plans to build homes in the area also spoke against the proposal, saying they might have chosen other areas if they knew a landfill might be located nearby.
Not everyone speaking Monday was opposed to the project, though. Rick Prather, CEO of Liberty Waste, spoke in favor and noted his own experience of living “within yards” of a landfill in Wake County.
“The property, that I ultimately sold, increased in value,” he said. “There are multiple thousands of homes that are adjacent … it is a thriving area. Any other use would largely consume all of the property. In our case, we’ll consume roughly 42 of the 116 acres, allowing for wildlife to continue to thrive.”
Bob Joyce, a former economic developer with SAGA, and Democratic former North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dennis Wicker are also involved with the project. They both said Liberty’s plans call for the site to be active for between 15 and 18 years and then to be turned over to local government or an area nonprofit for use as a public park, as Liberty has done in Raleigh. Wicker in particular focused on the other uses allowed by the property’s zoning – uses the commissioners wouldn’t have the power to deny.
“If this request is turned down please understand that this property will become available for other possible uses such as a junkyard, a chemical plant, and even a slaughterhouse,” he said.
Alan Rummel, a Republican member of the Lee County Board of Education, said he was “speaking on the fence” about the project and acknowledged he had concerns. But he went on to say the proposal “presents Lee County with a unique and powerful negotiating opportunity to secure funding for our schools,” citing host fees and interlocal agreements with other jurisdictions which might use the landfill.
“I hope you don’t miss this opportunity when we have so many projects that need capital funding and are considering giving a piece of our small county to take construction waste for the entire region,” he said.
Jim Womack, chairman of the Lee County Republican Party and also a county commissioner from 2010 to 2014, said he was technically “not speaking for or against the proposal,” but went on to list reasons he thought it should move forward. He said he and his wife had recently done demolition projects on properties they own in other counties, and having disposal options nearby was a plus.
“I found it very convenient that we were able to take C&D materials, free of charge, to a site where we could dispose of it very simply, very quickly and very effectively,” he said. “I just know that it’s extremely helpful to have those kinds of facilities and not have to have that crap sitting in your yard forever, or trying to find someone that will take it. We need a landfill. We need a C&D landfill somewhere in Lee County.”
Womack also said he believed the land would be used for something worse if the landfill wasn’t approved.
“Full disclosure, from 2012 to 2018, when I served as this state’s Mining and Energy and then the Oil and Gas Commission chairman, at that time we had our eye on that parcel, on that land,” he continued. “That’s where wastewater was going to be stored for the purpose of hydraulic fracturing in Lee County. And I can tell you when the state decides that we’re going to drill in Lee County, that site or some other site in Lee County is going to be condemned and used by the state with no revenues coming to Lee County.”
The board didn’t take action on the proposal Monday night, although Republican Commissioner Samantha Martin asked if the board could vote right away. County Attorney Whitney Parrish told her a first reading of a franchise agreement wasn’t prepared, and that Monday’s meeting was specifically for the public to speak about the issue.