TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Landfill Permitting Tests Patience

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: March 13, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Cash-strapped taxpayers got unwelcome news this week when officials speculated solid waste assessments may go up - and even double - because of delays to the expansion project at the county landfill.

The county has been waiting for months for a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection to build the new $15 million cell at its northwest facility on U.S. 98 north of Brooksville. The delays will mean the county will have to truck trash to other facilities beyond Hernando's borders for a year or so until construction is complete, and that's going to cost about $1 million, Utilities Director Joe Stapf told the county commission Tuesday.

The cost may have to be borne by taxpayers through increased assessments, Stapf said. The assessments could double starting next year to about $107. Commercial tipping fees could go from $54.50 to as high as $95.

County Adminstrator David Hamilton said Friday higher rates are still only a possibility and would be "the last option" to deal with increased costs.

But when talk of those kinds of hikes happen, taxpayers inevitably want to know who is to blame. County and DEP officials say the blame game is one they don't intend to play.

County officials say the process to secure the permit was started at a reasonable time and that they could not foresee the roughly year's worth of delays. For its part, DEP defends the process as its "one chance" to permit a landfill that could bring disastrous consequences if the special liner system between the mountain of garbage and the aquifer fails.

Stapf bristled Friday when a reporter asked about fault. That forces him to play "all-star Monday morning quarterback," he said, something he refuses to do.

"Don't put me in that box," said Stapf, who came on board in January of 2008, when the permitting process was already under way. "I can't promote controversy and discord. That's not the way you get things done in my world."

"Looking back, yeah, we should have started earlier," he said. "But how can anybody reasonably expect we'd encounter this kind of delay? Should I go out and fire somebody and make a scapegoat out of them?"

The county's engineering consultant on the project, Brown and Caldwell, indicated the county could expect at least one so-called "request for additional information," and usually two, Stapf said. In this case, the department has asked for more information four times.

The cell is now nearly a year behind schedule, with completion now projected for early 2011.

The back and forth has centered mainly on whether the ground underneath the landfill is stable enough to support the crushing weight of the landfill, and that if a sinkhole does open underneath the liner or nearby drainage retention area, the design will prevent groundwater contamination.

"We're going to be the ones five years from now who, if something happens on a site, will be asked, 'Why did you give that permit,'" DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez said. "The department has one opportunity to get a permit right, and it is our job to make sure that a facility is going to be able to be constructed and operated within the rules and regulations of the state of Florida."

The county can't afford to get antsy and start needling the department, Stapf said.

"Why would we want to promote an adversarial relationship?" he asked. "That's poor business practice."

Stapf got good news last week.

The Florida Geological Survey, an arm of DEP, has determined that the testing done so far to find underground voids that could cause sinkholes is sufficient. As well, the county's design requires only a few tweaks to provide DEP with "adequate reasonable assurance" that the landfill will be structurally sound.

A draft permit, Vazquez said, will be coming "sooner than later." If it's soon enough, Stapf said he's optimistic that the excavation phase of the project can begin in the next couple of months.

The county is already smarting from the ongoing delays to the Hernando Beach channel dredge project. County Administrator David Hamilton has said the project has been mismanaged and that County Engineer Charles Mixson will lose his job if the dredging doesn't begin by July 30.

County Commission Chairman Dave Russell said he believes that's not the case with the landfill project.

"There doesn't appear to be a lack of competence on the county's part," he said. "No one needs to go to the woodshed on this one. Not even DEP, God bless them."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT