More than 50 residents gathered Thursday evening to ask city officials about the Fountain Street waste transfer facility’s future once WM completes its new East Akron waste transfer facility.
The Yours and Mine Akron United Communities Civics Organization, which hosts a community forum on the second Thursday of every month, invited Akron’s Director of Public Service Chris Ludle and Environmental Services Manager Emily Collins to the meeting at the NIHF STEM High School, the former Robinson Community Learning Center.
A representative from WM intended to attend the forum but was advised not to due to pending litigation regarding the new East Archwood Avenue facility, Ludle said.
Here are some of the questions that were answered at the meeting.
How will WM go about cleaning up Middlebury’s Fountain Street facility?
Within 30 days of constructing and moving into the East Archwood Avenue facility, WM will dismantle the Fountain Street site, Ludle said. The company will remove the conveyor system and empty the underground tanks, which contain rainwater and liquid waste.
“There’s two tanks in the Fountain Street site, and anything that leaks off the trucks or anything that leaks onto the ground, they call that leachate. Leachate will go down into the drains in the building and then go into those tanks,” Ludle said.
WM is mandated to pump the tanks, pressure wash them and disconnect them from the drains and other connections in the building. There are additional regulations they must follow as they clean up the site, and then the site must pass inspections by the Summit County Health Department and the Ohio EPA.
“They will not be able to leave that site until those permits are signed off,” Ludle said.
WM will leave the fence up to secure the facility so that it does not become “a popular site for dumping,” like vacant parcels tend to become, he added.
The company has indicated it intends to sell the site once it is closed, Ludle said.
What will happen to the Fountain Street facility if it is sold?
There will be a deed restriction placed on the buyer that guarantees the site could never be a transfer station, Ludle said.
Because of the zoning codes for the Fountain Street property and the size of the building — specifically its high ceilings — it could become home to another business, like a landscape company or a small manufacturer, Ludle said.
Or the building could be torn down. The property could even be rezoned to accommodate other opportunities.
“It could be a number of things,” Ludle said.
What other changes will happen around the Fountain Street facility?
ODOT will be removing the state Route 8 bridge over Beacon Street, Ludle said, and building a braided ramp to connect commuters to and limit traffic backups on state Route 8 before the Central Interchange.
The bridge will be replaced with a walkable and bikeable underpass as part of phase three of the Rubber City Heritage Trail. Phase three will begin at the intersection of Exchange Street and Fountain Street and run along the tree line behind the Fountain Street transfer station.
When will the East Archwood Avenue facility in East Akron be built?
Before WM can begin construction on the East Archwood Avenue facility, it will need to secure environmental permits from the state. Then, the company will need to enter into a development agreement with the City of Akron, said Collins, the environmental services manager.
A development agreement sets the standards and conditions that must be met in order for a company to develop a property.
Will the City of Akron enter into a community benefit agreement with WM?
A community benefit agreement, or CBA, is a contract between a developer and the community — sometimes a coalition of community organizations or a designated citizens’ group — that helps establish how a development project will improve the quality of life for residents.
Commitments made during the agreement process could include donations to community services and programs or promises to hire local residents, among other things. It could also require the developers to regularly meet with residents to discuss their concerns.
The City of Cleveland passed an ordinance in 2023 outlining how CBAs should be developed and applied, with designated types of CBAs based on the cost of a project and how much city funding it will receive.
Procedurally, Akron is not in a position to push for a CBA until WM is certain it’s getting the new site, Collins said.
“I don’t think we have any opportunity to do that until we can talk about a development agreement. So that means the new site,” Collins said.
When the City of Akron is negotiating the development agreement, it could ask WM to create a CBA with the city and its residents. But an additional part of the conversation is establishing the new rates for trash pickup, Ludle explained.
“I want to look at the rates and get the best rates for this before I start talking about a community benefits agreement,” Ludle said. “Because they could offer a community benefits agreement, and then they want to negotiate our price. And I don’t want them to do the community benefits on the backs of all our residents.”