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Search For County Trash Facility Heats Up Again
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Search For County Trash Facility Heats Up Again
By Michael Thomas
Santa Cruz County officials have just initiated the search for a new trash sorting facility and already the process has brought an angry response from the city of Watsonville over one site. On Nov. 14, the Watsonville Council passed a 45-day moratorium on locating any such facilities within city limits, and city officials say they plan to extend the moratorium, perhaps indefinitely.
A countywide Task Force tried to identify a location for a new landfill in September of 2004, but disbanded without selecting one after encountering staunch opposition from neighbors living near potential sites all over the County.
The Task Force included representatives of area cities, each of which currently have unique arrangements for dealing with refuse. Capitola, for example, sends trash to Monterey’s landfill, while the County and Watsonville both have their own dumps in the Buena Vista area. Both of those are nearly full, and will be closed within 15 to 20 years.
The Task Force, failing to find a landfill site that could provide a shared solution to each jurisdiction’s waste woes, asked Public Works staff to investigate alternatives. The options included clean-burning incineration technologies or shipping the waste out of the County, or even out of state.
At the time, Public Works cautioned that any alternative would still require finding new land for sorting and processing. A consultant has now been hired to study locations and a report will be presented to the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 6.
“When the landfill runs out of capacity, we have to do something,” explained Patrick Mathews of County Public Works. “So now we are going to the next step, which is finding a transfer station.”
Rumor of Trash Facility in Watsonville Sparks Anger
According to veteran Watsonville City Manager Carlos Palacios, the County’s consultant contacted a real estate agent about the possible purchase of the Bird’s Eye food processing plant on Harvest Drive.
The plant is slated to close soon, taking with it about 600 jobs.
“We became very concerned because obviously there was some level of seriousness about it,” Palacios said. “We don’t feel that’s the best use of the property because of the low number of jobs and the lack of tax revenues that would result.”
The Council passed a 45-day moratorium on locating such a facility in the city. Palacios said the moratorium will likely be extended to a year, giving the city time to make permanent changes to its General Plan to bar any such facility from Watsonville in the future.
“We are trying to make it perfectly clear that we are not interested in it and we are going to take steps to prevent it,” he added. “They never picked up the phone and talked to us about it and that leads to a lack of trust.”
Supervisor Tony Campos was equally adamant that such a facility could not go in Watsonville. He suggested that a sorting facility could be built on existing landfill property at Buena Vista.
“You can put a refuse sorting facility anywhere,” Campos said.
Just a Misunderstanding?
According to Mathews of Public Works, “The Bird’s Eye plant was never on the list as a specific site. We used it as a test subject to look at the whole concept.”
Mathews added that the plant would never have been seriously considered for purchase.
“The property is actually far too large and far too expensive,” Mathews added.
He estimates that six to eight acres will be needed for basic facilities to process recyclables and reduce waste to the smallest mass possible.
Beyond that, additional space will be needed for compost facilities, as well as processing construction materials, road waste and demolished concrete.
“It could be one really big site or several sites,” he added.
Mathews said the consultant’s report, and the sites it identifies, are confidential until the report is presented to county supervisors in December.
The Countywide Task Force will be convened shortly thereafter to consider the consultant’s options.
County Supervisor Ellen Pirie thought there may have been miscommunication.
“I didn’t understand that [the] Bird’s Eye [property] was particularly attractive,” she said.
Nevertheless, the process appears to have gotten off to a rocky start, with the city of Watsonville already declaring their territory off limits.
Departing Capitola Councilmember Stephanie Harlan has been the city’s representative to the Task Force. She said out that the Task Force hasn’t met recently or discussed a potential facility at the Bird’s Eye site.
“Hopefully, people will still be interested in working together to do one transit center instead of there being several,” Harlan added.
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