Tougher landfill code approved

Tougher landfill code approved: distance concerns linger

By Deborah Nelson
Photo: Howard Jones
July 3, 2007

New regulations, approved Friday, establish more stringent standards for Santa Rosa construction debris landfills, but questions linger over allowable buffer distances between disposal sites and residential housing areas.

Santa Rosa Commissioners approved new rules for future construction and demolition (C&D) landfills, at last Friday’s Commission meeting.

The measures establish design, maintenance and policing standards, and set property line buffer zone minimums.

Future landfills must be sited 500 feet from property lines (on agricultural or light industrial “M1” zoned land); or 100 feet from property lines (on heavy industrial “M2” zoned land). The new rules also impact dirt borrow pits and land clearing debris.

At a May hearing, Holley residents who live near the Coyote landfill had asked the Board to increase those buffer distances.

Residents a mile away were affected by a 2005 fire at the landfill, according to retired engineer and Navarre resident Bill Kolb. Shortly after the fire, people began reporting foul odors and health problems.

Subsequent Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) studies found arsenic, and benzene above allowable levels, in area groundwater and wells.

A recent Florida Department of Health [FDoH] study finds that the air around the Coyote landfill is a public health hazard, County Environmental Health Manager Bill Sirmans told the Board of Commissioners, last Friday (see related story).

Sirmans had asked the Board to hold off on approving the ordinances until a Federal review of those study results, due in 30 days, was in.

“Just bear in mind that the [FDoH] air sample was over 600 feet away from coyote landfill,” Sirmans told the Board, Friday.

At Coyote’s 500-foot range, hydrogen sulfide levels have measured at 10 times the minimum risk level, Kolb cautioned Commissioners at a prior meeting. A 500 foot buffer zone between housing and landfill operations is still too close for comfort, according to some area residents.

Citing a need to get stronger codes in place immediately, Commissioners declined to wait for final study results. The Board approved the land use changes and a new C&D ordinance after Friday’s hearing.

If study results merit further measures, officials say they’ll take them under consideration.

“I think we’ve changed [the buffer distance] to 500 feet now, and if we need to change it to a thousand, we’ll do that, if we need to,” Commission Chair Tom Stewart remarked.

Under new requirements, C&D facilities must:

Maintain dirt or foam fire suppression systems.
Install a clay liner and leachate removal pump system
Meet siting distance requirements, based on zoning
Be covered weekly with six inches of soil
Maintain a 3:1 slope along the sides
Maintain a 20 foot height limit
Remove and dispose of non-permitted hazardous materials offsite
Maintain a closure plan

--Landfills must be sited at least 500 feet from neighboring properties (if built on Agricultural and Light Industrial/M1-zoned land); or 100 feet from adjacent properties (if located on heavier industrial/M2-zoned land).

--Landfill owners who violate code could have their permit revoked, and be charged with a separate, Second Degree Misdemeanor for each day violations continue.

--C&D disposal facilities are not allowed near military and civilian airport facilities, except for a section east of Hwy. 87S, near NOLF Choctaw.

--Existing landfills have six months to bring the facility up to code, but are not subject to new setback requirements.

“What we’re going to do today is we’re going to put some things into play that are going to make it very difficult to have a C&D pit in in this county,” said Stewart. “Very, very expensive with the liners and the daily cover and so forth and so on.”

The new rules also establish higher standards for dirt “borrow pit” excavation:

Agricultural and M1/M2 industrial land require a 50 foot setback for pits up to 100 feet deep, and a 100 foot setback for pits greater than 100 feet deep; and pits must fall 200 feet from permitted potable water wells.
Borrow pits must include a 200-foot setback from residential areas in all zoning areas.
All Borrow Pits must have a reclamation plan approved that will be implemented within 12 months of cessation of excavatio