Coyote gets new dig permit over neighborhood objections

Coyote gets new dig permit over neighborhood objections

By Deborah Nelson
April 9, 2008

Over neighborhood objections, Santa Rosa Commissioners voted last month to allow the Coyote landfill company to excavate dirt from a nearby property.

Coyote officials say the dirt will be used to comply with Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) requirements to quell the existing dump’s noxious emissions, but local residents fear the new hole will one day become another landfill.

“If the conditional use application is passed and they are allowed to dig another borrow pit, all that will remain is a large hole,” area resident Belinda Wells said at last month’s rezoning hearing.

“Coyote landfill will then be able to request another zoning variance to maybe possibly get another C&D landfill. Its location would be very close to a residential community that has been established for over 20 years.”

Coyote officials say the property will be used to obtain cover dirt for the existing landfill.

“Gentlemen if you can’t prevent a C&D from going in that pit, I don’t know who else can,” Coyote representative Jesse Rigby remarked. “We’re not asking for C&D, it’s a borrow pit to get clay material, that’s it.”

In a January 14 letter, FDEP advised Coyote of “the immediate need to eliminate odors and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions that are apparent on-site and off-site from your facility…”

“…the likely cause of some of these emissions is the permeable sandy cover being used,” according to the letter. “This material should not prevent water from infiltrating and apparently does not prevent emissions.”

FDEP suggested higher clay-content cover might reduce fumes.

“We have observed that when low permeability, iron rich, and clayey soils are used, the water is shed and odor and H2S emissions are reduced and contained,” the letter adds.

Last summer, Coyote bought the land where the new dig pit will be located “because it is a readily accessible source of the materials that you have indicated have been successfully used for cover and the reduction of odors at C&D facilities,” according to a January 31 letter to FDEP from the company’s attorney.

The letter says the new dig site contains red clay.

The new dirt will be deposited to a one-foot depth, according to officials. The deposit would be an addition to regular dirt cover activities.

Neighbors say they’re concerned a foot of dirt won’t do the job, and that the dirt won’t contain enough clay to adequately block fumes.

Wells contends Coyote landfill has had ample time to purchase iron-rich clay soil or cover, and notes already existing borrow pits north of the Yellow River have the type of clay necessary to provide adequate cover available for purchase.

Coyote originally requested a variance to excavate a five-acre site.

The Board of Commissioners reduced the requested acreage to two acres, but stopped short of a suggestion by Commissioner Bob Cole to approve the variance on a condition the new ‘borrow pit’ not be expanded in the future.

Commissioner Gordon Goodin recommended reducing the dig site size because he predicts Coyote will be able to mine an adequate amount of clay and mixed material to cover the existing dump site.

The landfill needs about 23,000 cubic yards of dirt to cover it to a one-foot depth, according to Rigby. Goodin calculates one acre could provide about 47,000 cubic yards of mixed clay and soil material. He recommended the additional acre to allow for a required 3:1 slope along the pit edges.

Holley resident Carolyn Kolb asked the Commission to hold off on a decision until FEDP could confirm the clay mixture would be of an adequate quality to cover landfill fumes.

During the process, FDEP will continue to monitor the site to ensure the landfill is complying with agency requirements, says spokesperson Sally Cooey.

Coyote’s neighbors began to notice foul odors and experience health problems following an October 2005 fire at the landfill.

Air and groundwater testing for benzene, hydrogen sulfide, arsenic and other hazardous substances began in 2006, in response to complaints. FDEP found arsenic and benzene, above baseline levels, in area groundwater and wells. Later tests focused on medical screening and air quality.

Commissioners established a six-month moratorium on new construction & demolition (C&D) disposal facilities in September 2006. In January 2007, the Health Department began monitoring neighborhood air samples for hydrogen sulfide.

Hydrogen sulfide is produced when drywall decomposes in water. Along with drywall, C&D landfills dispose of concrete, wood, asphalt, metal and other building materials.