HomeMy WebLinkAbout790403.tiff EXCERPT FROM BOARD MEETING
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
WELD COUNTY, COLORADO
DECEMBER 3 , 1979
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TIME: APPROXIMATELY 9 : 30 A.M.
TAPE #79-150
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Number two is decision regards to
Certificate Designation Colorado Landfill, Erie site. Is there
any discussion amongst the commissioners regards to this
Certificate of Designation? Is anyone prepared to make a motion
for on this decision?
COMMISSIONER STEINMARK: I , I guess I ' d ask, first,
just for clarification. It was my understanding from the record,
might ask Mr. David that, the State Health Department represent-
ative in his testimony and by the letter basically did not
recommend disapproval and recommended two items, isn' t that
correct as far as
THOMAS D:9VID: Yes, I , I was attended of course the hearing
held on Monday, November the we the 26th and uh, the letter was
of course submitted and was part of the uh the evidentiary packet.
It uh appeared to be a bit uhm vague as to exactly whether it was
a letter of disapproval or approval, and uh the representative
from the Health Department was here and I if you recall I did ask
several questions as to whether or not uh this did in fact
constitute a letter of disapproval. Uh, my recollection and in
fact I 'm certain what he said was this and that was the letter
would not be considered a letter of disapproval provided the
Board of County Commissioner did two things, number one, recommended,
made a recommendation to the FAA that the Erie Air Park be
restricted to either non, to nonjet and non-turbojet aircraft,
and secondly that the Board of County Commissioners recommended
uh to the FAA that the pilot' s manual now I believe that' s what
they call it, the, the manual that the aircraft pilots do do
have uh be updated to show some potential possible hazard that
might exist as a result of the landfill, or at least describe
the fact the landfill was there and that uh to warn for any
potential possible hazards such as birds or other hazards that
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might emit from a from the landfill site near an airport. Uh.
My recollection is that based on on those two recommendations
then the letter would not be considered a letter of disapproval
under Section 30-20-103 . Now I might for the Board' s I might
read that section in fact I ' d like to read that in before any
decision' s made. Section 30-20-103 , now of course this is all
part of the solid waste disposal sites and facilities act,
reads that person desiring to operate a solid waste disposal site
and facility within the unincorporated portion of any county
shall make application to the Board of County Commissioners of
the County for which such site and facility is or is proposed to
be located for a Certificate of Designation. Such application
shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty-five dollars which shall
not be refundable and it shall set forth the location of the site
and facility, the type of site and facility, the type of processing
to be used, such as sanitary landfill, composting or incineration,
the hours of operation, the method of supervision, the rates to
be charged if any, and such other information as may be required
by the Board of County Commissioners. The application shall also
contain such engineering, geological, hydrological or operational
data as may be required by the department by regulation. The
application shall be referred to the department for review and
for recommendation as to approval or disapproval which shall be
based upon criteria established by the State Board of Health,
the Water Quality Control Commission, and the Air Pollution
Control Commission. Then further in the act, Section 30-20-105 ,
reads as follows; Certificate: If the Board of County Commissioners
deems deems that a Certificate of Designation should be granted
to the applicant, it shall issue the certificate and such
certificate shall be displayed in a prominent place at the site
and facility. The Board of County Commissioners shall not issue
a Certificate of Designation if the department has recommended
disapproval pursuant to Section 30-20-103 . Um. So it appears
that the the Board would be restricted uh in the event that the
State Department of Health did in fact recommend disapproval .
Uh. The disapproval as pointed out on 30-20-103 must be a
based upon criteria established by the State Board of Health,
and of course there was considerable discussion at last Monday' s
meeting between the representative of the State Board of Health
and the Board and the County Attorney as to whether or not
criteria had been adopted, whether or not. But the final word
was that I , as I recall the record, and course the record is
what the Board must base their decision upon, was that uh State
Department of Health did not make any recommendation of disapproval.
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Is there any other discussion?
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: I think Tom has pretty well cover the
questions.
TOM PIERCE: Is it appropriate to ask a question?
COMMISSIONER ROE : Sure , Tom
TOM PIERCE: Have you contacted the author of
the letter from the state health?
THOMAS DAVID: I made an attempt to Friday and was unable
to do so. I was in Denver and then I made an attempt to contact
the attorney general' s office. I did wait there for some time. I
had another appointment at three and I, I uh was in the attorney
general' s office and waited. There was apparently a meeting
where one of, one of the two attorneys general ' s assistants who
do natural resources work but they were gone. One came back and
another I waited as long I could and uh but I wasn' t able to contact
the author of the letter.
TOM PIERCE: I did contact him very late. They were in
that meeting and he said that was the letter of disapproval unless
the airport could be restricted. Uh. Without any other inter-
pretation.
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Well, that ' s basically (rest spoken over)
THOMAS DAVID: Well , of course he wasn' t, the author of
the letter wasn ' t here for the re, the problem that I had was the
fact that the record has to support the decision of the Board and
the Board has to be guided solely by the record and uh I don' t
know why the author of the letter wasn' t at the hearing.
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But there was
TOM PIERCE: It was unfortunate that he wasn' t.
It was rather ambiguous in the way it' s written, but he does
interpret that as a letter of disapproval unless that criteria
is met, and the AIM publication is an impossibility (Not Audible)
THOMAS DAVID: Well, the letter starts out uh indicating
that the that there is an approval, you know that it is approved,
that all the criteria or, I don' t think they use the word
criteria, but that' s all the requirements of the department were
met, then as I recall about the third paragraph down, or the
third or fourth, the finally indicate however that we are not
able however to recommend approval of this site until the, until
air traffic restrictions imposed at the Erie Air Park. The
Federal Aviation Agency guidelines state that no landfill should
be located within ten thousand feet of an airport runway used by
turbojet or jet aircraft because of apotential bird hazard, and I
guess this is probably a general uh guide. The nearest runway at
the Air, Erie Air Park is approximately fifty-three hundred feet
southwest of the proposed landfill site. We have no basis to
overrule this guideline which we understand is based on direct
experience. Consequently, we must recommend disapproval of the
facility as long a turbojet or jet aircraft use the airport.
The site would, however, be acceptable in accordance with the
FAA guidelines for piston type aircraft, minimum distance five
thousand feet. Thus if a restriction is imposed which limits
Erie Air Park operations to piston-type aircraft, then department
will recommend approval of the site. This restriction should may,
remain until it can be demonstrated by operation that no bird
hazard exists in accordance with FAA guidelines . Now, if you
recall the representative of the State Department of Health,
when, when he was asked the specific question ' is this a
requirement that this he accomplished or is this a requirement
that a recommendation be made by the Board to the FAA concerning
the restriction of the uh air of the air park to or of the airport
to either turbo, non turbojet or non pure jet and further that
uh the Board recommend that the the pilot ' s , aircraft pilot ' s
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manual, be he called it, be amended, then I 'm sure I, my
recollection of the record was he said yes, that the recommendation
was what they
TOM PIERCE : You've got some conjecture on that part,
I ' d say after having followed this up. Those items in
the letter are really impossibilities. The FAA will not publish
for a nonexistent hazard and, in order to restrict the airport,
it would have to be done (rest Not Audible due to background noises)
WILLIAM CARLEY: I was a party to the conversation with
Dr. Martin, Director of the State Department of Health. His
comment was very simple and very specific. He said the letter
speaks for itself. The letter is a statement of disapproval.
That, uh, that was his comment and irregardless of what Mr. Lokey
expressed as his opinion, I believe if you go back and read the
transcript that was (his) true opinion. He stated several times,
in my opinion, I believe this would be. Dr. Martin, who authored that
letter, very specifically said in conversation Friday afternoon
late, the letter speaks for itself and is intended that the
letter is intended a letter of disapproval.
THOMAS DAVID: Well, if the letter speaks for itself it
kind of speaks to a kind of a maybe proposition. It' s pretty
easy to say no and it' s easy to say yes.
WILLIAM CARLEY: But it did not, it very specifically
state that this however` we must disapprove because of this later
later on in that same paragraph it says
THOMAS DAVID: Well,
CHAIRMAN CARLSON : Mr. David, I think we' re getting into
a debate here and we did close testimony on this one week ago and
I think this discussion is to be between the Commissioners and
record. Uh, week, one week ago that was not a letter of disapproval
and we ' ll have to go on that record because that was the meeting
and testimony has been closed. Is there any other discussion
amongst the commissioners?
THOMAS DAVID : Now this was done (speaking
over Chairman Carlson)
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CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Is anyone prepared to make a motion
in regards to this designation?
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: Mr. Chairman, I would simply move,
based on the testimony we heard during the formal hearing that the
Certificate of Designation be approved for the Erie landfill.
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Do you want to put any stipulations
into it to, Mr. Kirby?
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: I am not sure from uh
THOMAS DAVID: (interrupting) Well, the, the
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: The attorney recommendations are
THOMAS DAVID: (interrupting) The
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: Exactly what power we have as far
as the stipulations, and uh, I guess I would uh rather leave the
motion stand this way and and then if some of the other, one of
the other commissioners, would wish to amend or add to the motion
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Well, what I was getting at is to
as, to ask FAA to publish into the airman' s magazine the stipulation
THOMAS DAVID: The, the representative of the department
of health, at the hearing, indicated that we could only consider
that as a letter not of disapproval if you use the word in the
negative provided that the Board of County Commissioners recommend
to the FAA that the air, that the Erie Air Park, be restricted
to non-jet or to non-turbojet aircraft, and further that the
Board of County Commissioners recommend that the airman ' s manual
be updated to show any potential possible hazards that might exist.
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: I guess that' s what what I was asking
for
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: All right. Very well. I will add
uh that to the motion, as stated by the county attorney.
CHAIRMAN CARLSON : Is there a second to that motion?
COMMISSIONER DUNBAR: I ' ll second that.
CHAIRMAN CARLSON : Motion by Bill Kirby, seconded by
Lydia Dunabr to approve the Certificate of Designation with the
recommendation to FAA that they publish within the airman ' s
manual the hazards , or possible hazards as regards to bird strikes
at the Erie landfill . Uh, we didn' t put those in the same words
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that the county attorney did, but hopefully the Clerk to the
Board will correct that. Is there any discussion on the motion?
All in favor say aye.
COMMISSIONERS : Aye, aye, aye. •
CHAIRMAN CARLSON: Opposed nay. So carried.
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