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Council rejects landfill proposal
They had all come Monday to Room 209 of the Spartanburg Community College Cherokee County Campus Education Building to witness the decisive vote on Waste Management's proposal to build a recycling center and landfill that had pitted county residents against each other. After relatively little discussion among the somber council members, they voted 6-0 not to amend their solid waste plan that prohibits construction of new landfills, effectively burying the project. Reading from a lengthy prepared statement, councilman Charles Mathis, who represents the district where the proposed facility would have been built, made the muchawaited motion. "Our first obligation is the best interests, including the quality of life and needs of the residents of Cherokee County," Mathis said. "Our current solid waste management plan prohibits the type of facility proposed by Waste Management because our current solid waste management system is able to handle all the waste the county has and is expected to generate through 2025...I make the motion not to amend the solid waste plan." James Batchler, Hoke Parris, Quay Little, Rufus Foster and Tim Spencer supported Mathis' motion. Bailey Humphries abstained because of his ties to local Realtor John Wall, who conducted the site selection search. Prior to the vote, Foster urged his fellow council members not to shut the door on a viable long-range solution to the county's solid waste needs and to negotiate with Waste Management. According to an independent economic study, the project would create 300 construction jobs, including 42 permanent positions, $2 million in annual host fees and $488,000 more in property taxes each year. Foster said he voted for the motion because, procedurally, that's the only way he could bring the proposal back to council. Humphries, by rule, is also allowed to bring up the proposal for further action. But to do that he would likely have to severe ties with Wall. The other council members seem firm in their rebuke of Waste Management. Little has expressed concerns Waste Management neglected to ask the county's Development Board for a recommendation, while Spencer said he opposed the project because the facility would collect and dispose of waste from other counties. Despite the overwhelming defeat, Gaffney's Bob Peeler, manager of community and municipal relations for Waste Management, vowed to continue to try to convince council members of the project's merits. "We're disappointed in the vote tonight," Peeler said. "Our presentation on Dec. 2 was never meant as a final proposal. We'll fight on and well keep working to continue to try to convince county council not only is it economically but environmentally (a good project)." Peeler gave no timeline when he would eventually abandon his efforts if no progress was made. A group that sprung up to fight Waste Management wasn't ready to declare victory just yet. "I'm very happy that county council saw our side of this at this time," CLOUT (Cherokee Landfill Opposition United Together) spokesperson Joan Wheeler said. "I'm sure there will be further developments we'll have to address." Another CLOUT member, Judy Brown, said, "I'm pleased with the results, but I don't think it's over." An official of the pro-Waste Management group surprisingly agreed with CLOUT. "I'm not disappointed because I had an idea of what was going to happen. It can be brought up again and will be brought up again," said J.W. Sanders, Jr., co-chairman of CASE (Cherokee Advocates for a Strong Economy and Environment)." Calvin Booker, Waste Management vice president of public affairs Southern Group, was seemingly caught off guard by the vote. "What we would like to do is to bring a proposal to county council," he said. "What we did (on Dec. 2) was a presentation." Booker said typically councils will place the proposal in a committee to develop a host agreement. "It never made it to that here," he said. |
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