GF Pushes Ahead With Landfill; Initial Approval Expected in January
By Tu-Uyen Tran, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.
Nov. 6–The city of Grand Forks has begun testing soil and groundwater in areas northwest and southwest of the city in preparation for an application to build a landfill in one of several sites, public works chief Todd Feland told council members today.
The city is using piezometers small test wells with attached sensors to detect groundwater levels, their quality and the amount of clay in the soil.
At the same time, the city is expecting a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on bird populations in the northwest area not far from the airport. If the report says a landfill in that area would not pose a threat to low-flying aircraft, it could pave the way for the Federal Aviation Administration to give the city the green light to build its new landfill there.
Feland said the bird report should be in by the end of the month, roughly the same timeframe as results from the piezometers.
In the meantime, the city will meet with landowners and residents near the potential landfill sites.
A meeting with Falconer and Rye townships is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Manvel, N.D., Fire Department. There is less resistance to a landfill in those areas since the city’s soon-to-close landfill already is located nearby.
The people in Brenna and Walle townships already are planning to sue the city, and they’ll meet with the city at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at St. Jude’s Church in Thompson, N.D.
Feland recognized that the city could be in for a legal fight not unlike the one that it lost earlier this year to Grand Forks County’s Turtle River Township, near Manvel. Building a landfill in Brenna or Walle, he said, would be “very difficult, to say the least.”
The city’s flurry of activities is deliberate. It’s operating under a series of deadlines both explicit and implicit.
There’s the city’s self-imposed deadline to get pre-applications to the state Health Department before the year is out and get approval by January. “Momentum” is important in this effort, according to Feland.
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For more on this story, read Wednesday’s Grand Forks Herald.
Tran reports on City Hall. Reach him at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or ttran@gfherald.com”>ttran@gfherald.com. Or, see his blog at www.areavoices.com/gfhcitybeat.
-RD
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