Unlike two years ago, a recycling company may not get permission to build a 17-acre solid waste transfer station off U.S. 1 near Cemetery Lane.
Theodore F. Mariani, chairman of the county Planning Board, said last night he was struggling to find a "compelling reason" to approve Browning-Ferris Inc.'s request to build the transfer station.
After Mariani and board member Gary Kaufman questioned the need and proposed location for the transfer station, the board postponed action on BFI's request until its Oct. 24 meeting when it will hear further testimony on alternatives to handling the county's trash.
In 1994, both the county zoning and planning boards approved BFI's request.
But an appeal by owners of a neighboring industrial park reached the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, which ruled in April that the zoning panel was wrong to give BFI the go-ahead for the transfer station because the county did not properly notify the public of changes to the proposal.
BFI renewed its request and asked the Planning Board for a new recommendation last night.
The proposed station would be next to BFI's recycling center, which sorts cans, glass, plastics and paper. The new facility would process residential and commercial trash and prepare it for shipment elsewhere for disposal.
But the need for such a facility is questionable, Mariani and Kaufman and Elkridge residents contend.
There's no longer pressure on Alpha Ridge, the county's last open landfill. It was scheduled to close at the end of the year after the county signed a five-year contract with a transfer station in Anne Arundel County -- about 5 miles from the proposed Elkridge site -- to dispose of Howard's residential trash, they said.
"I'm a little concerned because we've lost a bit of the compelling reason," said Mariani.
But board member Joan Lancos disagreed.
"If there was an appropriate reason for it two years ago, I haven't heard why it's not appropriate now," said Lancos.
At its next meeting, the board will hear testimony from James Irvin, director of the county Public Works Department, who will discuss Howard's contract -- effective in January -- with Sanifill Inc. in Jessup.
The proposed Elkridge facility would have two buildings and would operate at a maximum capacity of 2,000 tons of waste per day, according to BFI officials.
Pub Date: 10/10/96
