Friday, March 29, 2013
More media: H-T and WFHB
Article in the H-T about City Council's letter to IDEM against the proposed WTS, 29 March 2013
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2013/03/29/news.city-council-tells-idem-it-opposes-new-trash-transfer-station.sto
(Notably, the Council's letter includes a statement that they “would not support the use of this facility by the city.”! good news)
Story on WFHB about connection with the Mo Co Solid Waste District BoD, 28 March 2013
http://www.wfhb.org/news/daily-local-news-march-28-2012-0
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Trip Your Trash Makes - IU Office of Sustainability
http://iusustain.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-trip-your-trash-makes/
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Latest HT article by Rick Seltzer MAYOR: City will check legality of transfer station
Link to article
Article in the H-T, Mayor: City will check legality of transfer station, 18 March 2013:
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2013/03/18/news.mayor-city-will-check-legality-of-transfer-station.sto
Article in the H-T, Mayor: City will check legality of transfer station, 18 March 2013:
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2013/03/18/news.mayor-city-will-check-legality-of-transfer-station.sto
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Examples: Letters to John Hale, Permit Manager, IDEM
March 9, 2013
John Hale,
Permit Manager
Indiana
Department of Environmental Management Solid Waste Permits MC 65-45, IGCN 1101
100 North
Senate Avenue
Indianapolis,
IN 46204-2251
Dear Mr. Hale,
I am writing
to voice my concerns about the proposed Vernal Pike Transfer & Recycling
facility located on Vernal Pike in Bloomington, Indiana. In my opinion I do not understand why anyone
would want to live in close proximity to a trash transfer station since
according to the Carbondale, Colorado study this is considered a “noxious” land
use. The location of this proposed
facility makes it completely unacceptable considering the following facts.
1) The present business at JB
Salvage is completely surrounded by a RS zone.
The surrounding properties are not only residential, but they are also
low income, high density residential with compact urban form. There are 3 gov’t subsidized housing developments
in close proximity to the proposed facility.
2) There are three schools and
a fourth (dance school) also within close proximity
3) The City of Bloomington has
denied City Transit bus services to this area because of the “geometry of the infrastructure
in the area”. Because of two railroad
crossings and low train trestles X 2, the City felt the buses would not be able
to maneuver through this area. At the
same time, large semi-trucks with long wheel bases would be unable to get over
the two railroad crossings without bottoming-out.
4) When I-69 changes take
place, the Vernal Pike exit to now Hwy. 37 will be closed. The ONLY exit will be through a core
neighborhood with inadequate infrastructure (2 street lights, few sidewalks,
narrow streets). People often walk in
the road/street because there are few places to even get off of the street and
at night, because we don’t have street lights, it is nearly impossible to see
pedestrians.
5) Our neighborhood will likely
experience depreciation of property values.
The Carbondale study states properties within 1 mi of the facility will
be depreciated.
6) We are concerned with the
exhaust fumes from diesel trucks moving the trash and from other trucks
delivering the 100 tons per day of solid waste to the facility.
7) We fear that there will be
lots of litter/road trash blowing from uncovered or unsecured materials going
to the station.
8) We choose not to deal with
the extra accidents that will certainly occur in front of our homes on W. 17th
where there is a blind intersection (Lindburgh & W.17th St.) at
the bottom of a steep hill. There are
always many accidents on this hill especially in inclement weather.
9) We invested lots of money in
our home and property this summer. We
own 3.4 acres within city limits and two
homes. We have a pond and our back yard
looks as if we live in the country. We
want to be able to enjoy our yard and natural sounds such as birds, without the
sounds of reverse alarms on trucks dumping trash, clanging and banging of
materials hitting the floor of the trash and recycling facility, the stench and
increase in particulate matter in the air which is harmful to our health,
increase risk of vectors and even accidental spills that might be
environmentally harmful.
Bottom
line……we do not want to live next to a trash transfer station and experience
all of the detrimental side effects that will certainly come from this noxious
land use. Please do not approve this
permit……..we BEG you. We feel that this
proposed facility will be detrimental to our health and safety as well as that
of our neighborhood residents.
Respectfully,
March
10, 2013
John Hale, Permit Manager
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Solid Waste Permits
MC 65-45, IGCN 1101
100 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Solid Waste Permits
MC 65-45, IGCN 1101
100 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251
Dear Mr. Hale,
I am writing to you today with my deep concern about the
proposed Waste Transfer Station on Bloomington’s Near West Side.
My wife and I are currently living on the near west side,
within a half mile from the proposed JB Salvage WTS expansion. We have built a LEED Platinum certified
(2010) home here, in the spirit of revitalizing this neighborhood that has a
history of suffering environmental abuse, including super-fund sites such as
Fell Iron and Metal. The history of
using economically and racially diverse distressed neighborhoods as a dumping ground for waste is well
documented. In fact, the EPA has studied
this problem, and there are materials that address this issue, such as,
A Response to a Recurring
Environmental Justice Circumstance:
The Siting of
Waste Transfer Stations in Low-Income Communities and Communities of Color
My wife and I, along with the Near West Side Neighborhood
Association, Crescent Bend Neighborhood
Association, Prospect Hill N.A., Maple Heights N.A., Mayor Mark Kruzan and the
City Council of Bloomington, all oppose the proposed location of a WTS in our
residential neighborhood. We strongly
support recycling and progressive solutions that will eventually create a
zero-waste Bloomington, however, and look forward to the design and future
deployment of creative strategies for this goal.
Thanks for all of your great work!
David Gulyas
ASID, LEED AP
908 West 8th Street
Bloomington, IN
47404
davidgulyasdesign@gmail.com
Example of letter to former Commissioner Mark Stoops
Dear Mr. Mark Stoops,
March 9,
2013
As a responsible citizen of Bloomington and owner of property
in close proximity to the proposed Vernal Pike Transfer and Recycling facility,
in Bloomington, I am very disappointed that you would, as former County Commissioner,
send a letter of recommendation to IDEM for this proposed facility. We feel that in doing so, you were obviously either
misled by the present owners into thinking this was singularly a recycling
facility or your priority was with saving the City money in trash
transportation costs and recommending yet another recycling facility (within a
few blocks of City Hall’s recycling station) without any consideration to 1) the placement of this facility within city
limits 2) the fact that this facility is
surrounded by low-income, high density affordable housing projects with compact
urban form which City gov’t has reinforced 3) the fact that this facility will compromise quality of life
for surrounding neighborhoods and the health and safety to the public as well
as school children and B-line trail users 4) the inability of large trucks to access
this facility due to inadequate infrastructure and only one possible exit route
which will be THROUGH a core neighborhood 5) the sale of this facility, which is highly
likely, which may compromise the existing contract the District has with
Hoosier/Republic which may also INCREASE dumping/tipping costs to the City 6) further reduced property values of an
already depressed area for up to a 1 mi radius 7) the mission statement of District Solid
Waste Management.
We, Crescent Bend Neighborhood Association, respectfully
request that you rescind your letter of recommendation and that you make it
perfectly clear to IDEM that your interpretation of the proposal/application
was for primarily a recycling center and not a trash transfer station located
in a densely populated part of town. We also request that you point out that you are
concerned that this noxious land use (according to a BBC study done for
Carbondale, CO) will definitely affect the quality of life as well as health
and safety of the surrounding neighborhoods and that the existing
infrastructure, which cannot feasibly be changed (ie: railroad crossings
situated on inclines and low train trestles) will not support the required
large truck traffic with defined exit routes through local neighborhoods. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Respectfully,
Links to info from IDEM's website
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~sjanowie/IDEM/Permit_67075996_2012_11_01_full_application.pdf
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~sjanowie/IDEM/Permit_67482802_2012_11_02_site_drawings.pdf
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~sjanowie/IDEM/Permit_67122317_2012_11_09_letter_received.pdf
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~sjanowie/IDEM/Permit_67413928_2012_12_27_opposition_letter_1.pdf
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~sjanowie/IDEM/Permit_67386932_2013_01_17_Request_for_Additional_information.pdf
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~sjanowie/IDEM/Permit_67328406_2013_02_04_correspondence_updates.pdf
Friday, March 8, 2013
Solid Waste Management District Board Members
For your convenience.........
The 2013 District Directors and Board Members
CHAIRPERSON:
Stephen
Volan
Bloomington
City Council
P.O. Box 100
Bloomington,
IN 47402
(812)
349-3409
VICE
CHAIRPERSON:
Patrick
Stoffers
Monroe
County Commissioner
100 W.
Kirkwood Ave.
Courthouse,
Room 322
Bloomington,
IN 47404
(812)
349-2550
SECRETARY:
Dan Swafford
Ellettsville
Town Council
Ellettsville
Town Hall
Ellettsville,
IN 47429
(812)
876-3860
MEMBERS:
Iris Kiesling
Monroe County Commissioner
Courthouse, Room 322
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 349-2550
Mark Kruzan
Mayor, City of Bloomington
City Hall at Showers Center
401 N. Morton
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 349-3406
Julie Thomas
Monroe County Commissioner
100 W. Kirkwood Ave.
Courthouse Room 322
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 349-2550
Cheryl Munson
Monroe County Council
100 W. Kirkwood Ave.
Courthouse Room 209
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 349-7312
District Counsel:
Robert D. Mann
Andrews, Harrell, Mann, Carmin & Parker
400 West 7th Street, Suite 104
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 332-4200
Executive Director:
Larry D. Barker
Monroe County Solid Waste
Management District
3400 South Walnut Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 349-2869
Controller:
Connie Hudson
Monroe County Solid Waste
Management District
3400 South Walnut Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 349-9151
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)