A nine-hour public hearing Thursday about a proposed waste transfer station in East Akron left residents with questions about what is potentially in store for Ward 5 and the possible location at 1400 E. Archwood Ave.
What is a waste transfer station?
Waste transfer stations are industrial facilities where solid waste is unloaded from smaller trucks, like the WM trucks Akronites may see in their neighborhoods, and reloaded into larger vehicles to be transported to a disposal site.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, waste transfer stations “make solid waste collection more efficient and reduce overall transportation costs, air emissions, energy use, truck traffic, and road wear and tear.”
What exactly is WM proposing?
WM wants to build a waste transfer station at 1400 E. Archwood Ave. in Akron. This site would replace what WM Public Affairs Manager George Brown calls “legacy facilities”–– the waste transfer station at 389 Fountain St. in Middlebury and the Akron Greenstar recycling facility located at 1535 Exeter Road in East Akron.
Additionally, the $20 million facility would include a community drop-off area, so that residents could dispose of additional waste. This is not offered at the Fountain Street site.
“Illegal dumping is an issue in Akron,” Brown said, “and we recognize that this community drop-off offers a secure, monitored location so that other lots and other properties don’t become dumping grounds,” Brown said in the public hearing.
The facility would be open Monday through Friday from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to noon, excluding holidays.
Why get rid of the ‘legacy facilities?’
“The Fountain Street site is undersized, the building is outdated and the operations are too close to residences immediately to the east,” city planner Jim Hosbach said at Thursday’s hearing.
At 2.1 acres, the Fountain Street property is about seven times smaller than the proposed 14 acres for the East Archwood Avenue facility.
When and where were Akron residents given an opportunity to voice their concerns and ask questions prior to the Oct. 3 public meeting?
WM presented their proposal and answered questions, along with city administrators, at ward meetings in June, although these meetings were not held in Ward 5. (See the document embedded above for a timeline provided by Mayor Shammas Malik’s office.)
City administration and WM also organized multiple public tours of WM’s Oakwood facility, which is similar to the one proposed for East Akron.
Will hazardous materials be handled at the new facility?
The waste transfer site will not handle hazardous waste, said Kate Duncan, an attorney for WM.
“Municipal solid waste is waste that’s collected from your homes,” Duncan said. “It’s trash that you all put out in your garbage for the trash collectors to pick up every week.”
How will WM address concerns about potential odors and infestations?
The transfer station will be indoors with no outside sorting, staging or storage of materials. Additionally, WM said an odor suppression system will be installed and the building would be emptied daily and cleaned routinely, indoors and outdoors.
The odor suppression system will use “odor neutralizing chemistry” rather than masking agents. A mix of essential oils and water will be dispersed as a mist at each of the unloading and load out doors, according to Gina Crawford, the marketing manager for Solutio Tek, an Ohio-based odor control company.
The fine particles in the mist will evaporate and work to eliminate the odors.
Who will monitor the facility and make sure WM’s promises about maintaining it are kept?
WM will be required to comply with Ohio EPA regulations, Hosbach said. The waste transfer station would be inspected every other week for the first quarter of operations and then once per quarter.
The Ohio EPA would monitor the operations with respect to air quality, odors, stormwater management and vector control (disease-carrying organisms such as insects and rodents).
Will the facility result in more traffic, particularly from trucks?
WM hired engineering firm TMS Engineers to conduct a traffic impact study for this project.
Traffic engineer Andrew Pearson said that the company anticipated a “very low” amount of traffic and recommended against performing a study but proceeded anyway because of community interest.
Pearson said there will not be enough traffic generated to have a negative impact on the nearby roadways.
“We determined that the driveways have low enough traffic volumes on Archwood that trucks and vehicles are expected to easily be able to turn during the different peak hours,” Pearson said.
Where is the proposed site?
The 1400 E. Archwood Ave. site, which is zoned for commercial and industrial use, is in Ward 5 but near Wards 6 and 10. The surrounding area includes additional industrial buildings, with the nearest residential property being 400 feet away.
Can City Council reject the proposal?
City Council voted Monday to give the legislation time so that Ward 5 Council Member Johnnie Hannah could hold a meeting for ward residents. Hannah said he is working on coordinating a date with WM officials. But even after a Ward 5 meeting, the vote is up to City Council, and it could go either way.
City of Akron Planning Director Kyle Julien said that whether East Archwood Avenue is the right site is a land-use question.
“The question is, ‘Is this an appropriate land use for that parcel and in that location?’,” Julien said.
Julien said if council decides against the conditional use agreement, WM would need to revisit its options, and it would likely result in the continued use of the Fountain Street station.
Why did WM select the 1400 E. Archwood Ave. site?
“There was an extensive site search with criteria related to the current zoning, the central location and the ability to get on freeways, because they got to take the stuff to landfill,” Julien said, “as well as the ability for the site to accommodate the facility in such a way to minimize its impact on adjoining uses as well as the compatibility with surrounding uses.”