Panel urges city to oppose landfill expansion

Neighborhoods, environmental groups cite health, quality of life issues

Following a pair of public hearings featuring presentations from landfill operators and sometimes emotional testimony from nearby residents, the city’s Solid Waste Advisory Commission voted last week to urge the City Council to oppose the expansion of the two Northeast Austin landfills.

The two landfills, located along US 290 East between Springdale and Giles roads, are operated by Waste Management Inc. (WMI) and Allied Waste (formerly BFI.) Both operators have filed for permits with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for vertical expansion of the sites in order to extend the life of the landfills.

Both WMI and Allied have made presentations to SWAC members regarding their expansion plans, but residents from areas near the landfills such as Chimney Hill, Harris Branch and other neighborhoods countered with testimony regarding how proximity to the facilities has hurt their quality of life. More than 10 local residents spoke against the permits. Representatives from environmental groups such as the Texas Campaign for the Environment and the Sierra Club also spoke against expanding the landfills.

Marie Ingram, who lives just southwest of the landfills on Quiette Drive, says she has watched as the landfills have grown over the past few years. “They’re talking about putting a 70-foot high expansion on top of what is already a huge landfill,” she said. “That’s like putting a 7 or 8-story building up there. Mountains don’t grow; they are created and then begin to shrink. But this one is growing.”

Others, like Woodcliff resident Jeanette Klotz, said the biggest problem for neighbors of the landfills is the smell. “I can attest to the odor problem,” she said. Some days it overpowers you. I have been as far away as the Schofield Farms area (west of I-35) and still smelled it. The odor problem doesn’t seem to be going away.”

Growth in Austin and the surrounding counties has meant increased use of the landfills. Opponents of expansion say local governments should freeze capacity at current levels and begin looking for a new location.

“We had a media event last August near the landfills,” said Robin Schneider with Texas Campaign for the Environment. “The stench from the landfills was absolutely overpowering. Even with the media there, they couldn’t control the odor. They need to look for another location for a landfill.”

A presentation by SWAC Board Member Rosemary Wyman, prepared after she spent numerous hours visiting the area around the landfills and talking with officials from schools and businesses in the area, upset many of the neighbors gathered at the meeting. Her conclusion, that conditions near the landfills were improving and that it would be too expensive to ship the solid waste elsewhere, was not popular and was challenged by many in audience.

City Council Place 2 Candidate Mike Martinez also spoke against the expansion permits, drawing on his experience as a firefighter. He called the landfills a health hazard to the neighborhoods. “We need to make a commitment not to have a landfill in the middle of the city,” he said. “With the problems with methane gas and other toxic substances we know are in there, it only increases the risk to public health.”

Several SWAC members expressed concern over heath issues, but J.D. Porter also noted that the city’s Long-term Solid Waste Planning Subcommittee has made Zero Waste a goal. “It seems to me we need to be working to solve the problem from the waste side, rather the expanding capacity,” he said. “Adding capacity to the landfills is a disincentive for residents to cut the waste stream.”

Porter moved to recommend that the Austin City Council become a party to the TCEQ permit process and to oppose any expansion of either the WMI or Allied landfills. The motion was approved 5-1, with Wyman voting no. Commission Member Charles Cree was absent.

Oak Hill presents toll road alternatives

Fix 290 Coalition opposes flyover, wants new highway to run through—not over—area

Neighbors who oppose the proposed US 290 West toll project met last week to discuss their alternative to the proposed plan, which they described as a parkway that would “bring people to Oak Hill rather than through Oak Hill.”

Opposition to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority’s second toll project, which is being completed in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation, is not purely an anti-toll movement. Instead, the opponents to the project are a coalition of environmentalists who are dismayed with construction over the aquifer and local residents who want to see the revitalization of the “Y” through the Oak Hill community.

Last Thursday night, the two groups, dubbed the Fix 290 Coalition, met at Austin Community College’s Pinnacle campus to discuss their alternative to the toll project. Steve Beers of the Save Barton Creek Association and David Richardson, who has spearheaded the OHAN planning movement over the last 16 months, presented a more modest at-grade six-lane parkway without frontage roads and only one elevation at the “Y” through Oak Hill, instead of the elevated toll way with a three-story flyover and frontage roads, as is being proposed by TxDOT.

Meeting attendees repeatedly cited the CAMPO resolution for “context-sensitive design” of toll roads, saying that the TxDOT proposal for a 12-lane roadway through Oak Hill clearly ignored the wishes of Oak Hill residents who want a road that enhances community development rather than splits Oak Hill in half. The TxDOT plan “ignores Oak Hill as a destination and makes it a road bump on the highway,” resident Tom Thayer told the two dozen residents who attended the meeting.

Beer’s proposal would be a smaller footprint for the US 290W expansion, a six-lane parkway that would require no frontage roads, similar to the treatment of MoPac across parkland. The exchanges would be one level, allowing TxDOT to release some of its acquired right-of-way to be added to existing available land for redevelopment at the “Y.” SH 71 would be a four-lane boulevard with left-turn bays for left turns.

Oak Hill residents have been meeting since January 2005 to discuss the area’s neighborhood plan. Richardson, who brought the initial group together six months before the city started the formal neighborhood planning process, says that the “Y,” properly developed and in harmony with the community, could spark new development in the area.

US 290 West does not need to be a toll road in isolation, Richardson said. Instead, the project could be part of the broader neighborhood planning process that includes the development of additional roads for an internal secondary road system. In Richardson’s plan, US 290W would be an at-grade six-lane parkway, with traffic flow improved by the extension of FM 1826 to Old Bee Caves Road and then on to Convict Hill, which could create a new “Main Street” for Oak Hill business.

Entrance and exit ramps could connect into the “Oak Hill Town Center,” creating a new chance for business to come into the community. Such a concept, for instance, could make it easier for H-E-B to make a “go” of it in Oak Hill and drive more retail into the community, so that residents are not shopping on Brodie Lane, Richardson said. Additional east-west access could be added to provide better flow of traffic in and out of neighborhoods on US 290W and provide an alternative route to connect ACC to the “Y.”

Creating a stronger arterial system in Oak Hill, in conjunction with a parkway, not only gives better circulation for the existing subdivisions it also provides a stronger connection to mass transit, Richardson said. Oak Hill residents involved in the neighborhood planning process do not want a Park-and-Ride lot, as Capital Metro has proposed. Instead, residents would prefer to see a rapid bus service into Oak Hill, possibly on FM 1826. Richardson surmised it would be quite easy to follow FM 1826, turning on William Cannon Boulevard before heading into downtown.

Locals have planning alternatives. Colin Clark of the Save Our Springs Alliance would prefer to see no lanes built at all. Instead, that money could be funneled into the purchase of land ripe for development in the area. The less intense design also could protect Williamson Creek and decrease road miles over the aquifer.

The Fix 290 Coalition is circulating a petition and information on its alternative plan. The information can be found at the group’s website, http://www.fix290.com.

©2006 In Fact News, Inc. All rights reserved.

New assistant for Kim. . . Council Member Jennifer Kim reports that her new policy aide, Belinda Roberts, will begin work today. Roberts has a law degree from Rutgers and a bachelor’s degree in business from Eastern Washington University. In addition, she is a trained mediator and has experience working at the EPA on environmental issues . . . Today’s events . . . The city’s Parks and Recreation Board will have another opportunity to hear from members of city staff on the proposal to take 30 acres of the Roy Guerrero Colorado River Park for a new Green Water Treatment Plant. There has been some movement toward releasing information on the other sites, as evidenced by Saturday’s American-Statesman story, which reported that five sites were considered. However, that in itself will likely prove insufficient to quell the clamor against the proposal. The meeting will be at 6:30pm in room 325 of One Texas Center . . . Martinez fundraiser . . . There will be a fundraiser for Mike Martinez at the home of Brigid Shea, 2604 Geraghty Ave, from 5:30-7:30pm . . . Meetings . . . The Arts Commission meets at 6:30pm in Council Chambers at City Hall . . . The Historic Landmark Commission meets in a Work Session at 6:30pm in room 240 at One Texas Center . . . The Urban Transportation Commission meets at 6pm in room 1027 at City Hall . . . The Council Land Use and Transportation Subcommittee meeting has been cancelled . . . The Austin Community College Board of Trustees meets at 6pm at the Highland Business Center, 5930 Middle Fiskville Rd. . . . Toll tags . . . We’re not predicting a rush to buy them, but today is the first official day that you can buy a TxTag, the electronic card that will pay for Central Texas toll roads. The Texas Department of Transportation is having a “soft rollout” of the wallet sized cards that commuters will put on their windshield to be read at toll plazas. Go to http://www.txtag.org for more information. The tags are free, but you will eventually have to deposit money in an associated account for it to work properly. Central Texas toll roads won’t be opening for several months, but TxDOT says the new tags will work on any toll road in the state. There could be some snob appeal someday of having tag No. 000001 on your windshield . . . Renewable energy . . . Austin is mentioned prominently in a new Sierra Club report which reviews the renewable energy practices and programs of four U.S. cities, identifying common features necessary for success. The report, "Sustainable Cities," was prepared for the Sierra Club by Ken Regelson and examines programs in Austin, Chicago, Portland, and Ft. Collins, Co. For comparison purposes, two cities were served by investor-owned utilities and two cities by their own municipal utility. The report determined that 14 key elements were necessary for implementing sustainability in energy in the four cities: leadership, a plan, funding, reduced energy costs, communications, training, inspections and measurements, efficiency rebate programs, renewable energy programs, green building, multi-family building programs, income qualified programs, new businesses and green roof programs. For more information, check out the report at http://www.rmc.sierraclub.org/energy/library/sustainablecities.pdf. . . . Nature Day . . . In a Whisper last Friday, we incorrectly listed two organizations, Keep Austin Beautiful and Austin Parks Foundation, as sponsors of the Austin Earth Day. While both organizations do perform invaluable services to the community, they were not involved in this particular event. They are, however, sponsors of other events planned during April, which is Austin Earth Month. For more information, go to http://www.austinparks.org/austinearthmonth.htm. ”