By Philip Haldiman
Twitter: @PhilipHaldiman

A wave of opposition has been forming against a proposal to bring a 17,000 square-foot waste transfer station to 5 acres near 115th Avenue and Happy Valley Road.

The site is located on a Maricopa County island surrounded by a portion of north Peoria.

Area residents say the facility will diminish their home values, increase traffic, generate loud noise, as well as emit noxious odors from trash and vehicles.

Representatives of Republic Services, owner of the property, said with no other transfer station in the far northwest Valley, the facility would accommodate for growth and fill an important need for of waste management infrastructure that does not exist in the region, as well as keep solid waste fees low.

RELATED: Anderson: Needed infrastructure in NW Valley will help keep trash rates low, preserve recycling

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The case is still early in the process and is currently being reviewed by Maricopa County Planning and Zoning staff and will eventually undergo a public input period.

Stephen Anderson, a lawyer representing  Republic Services, said this would be the first transfer station in the far Northwest Valley.

“This part of the Valley does not have this piece of municipal infrastructure. Anyone who lives within miles of this facility has the potential to see their recycling and waste rates remain stable. But if there were not a transfer station, more likely rates would increase,” Mr. Anderson said. “Size is important. The facility will have a 17,000 square foot footprint. There is a Walgreens near my house that is about 15,000 square feet. This facility is just not big enough to wreak the havoc I’ve heard people express concerns about. The facility is from a hometown corporation that is going to be well run and once it is up and running, folks won’t know it was there. People don’t pay attention to transfer stations. There is no evidence that they have had nothing but a positive impact.”

Although a public input period has yet to be held, hundreds of residents have voiced their disapproval of the project through a number of avenues.

Emails and letters have been submitted to the county regarding the project. A Facebook page named Happy Valley Says NO to a Waste Transfer Station, created April 4, has more than 3,500 followers and two online petitions have been created on the websites i-Petition and Change.org, with about 4,000 and 1,600 signatures, respectively.

Peoria Mayor Cathy Carlat and Councilwoman Bridget Binsbacher, who represents the area of the proposed facility, have also sent letters to the county voicing their opposition to the rezoning.

Nearby 13-year resident of Peoria Vanessa Angell said that as admin of the Facebook page, she has been the target of attacks from some supporting the facility.

She said the opposition movement was already in motion when she joined.

Ms. Angell said residents of the Crossriver and Dos Rios developments and other homes coming in and out to the east of the site have to use 115th Avenue.

This is the main ingress and egress to this entire community and residents do not have a choice to bypass the proposed location, she said.

Republic Services officials stated traffic impact should be insignificant, with fewer than 10 truck trips per hour, and fewer than 80 total truck trips each day, and that the regional trucks will not pass a local neighborhood and instead go directly to Loop 303 en route to a landfill.

But Ms. Angell said as Peoria and the Northwest Valley grows, so will the number of trucks.

The area is already congested and their trucks will make it impossible to get in and out of the community, Ms. Angell said.

“Not to mention, the traffic nightmare that already exists on Happy Valley and that particular intersection,” she said. “There is a misconception that we are against a recycling and waster transfer station. We understand the importance of this type of facility. But we feel there are better, appropriate locations this can go that is not in residential areas.”

Timeline

The Arizona-based Republic Services is the second largest provider of non-hazardous solid waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and energy services in the United States, according to their website.

To bring the facility to the area, the property needs to be rezoned from Rural Zoning District to Heavy Industrial Zoning District Industrial Plan of Development, which would require a public hearing from Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission and an eventual approval from the board of supervisors.

County Planner Adam Cannon said the general case timeline for a zone change can typically range from four to six months. Following the initial submission of the application, there is a review period and a technical review meeting between the applicant and review agency staff.

Before a public hearing is scheduled, there will be public notice including the site posting, a legal ad and a mailout to property owners within a 300-foot radius of the site.

“At this point we have held the initial technical review meeting and are awaiting the submittal of any revised plans,” Mr. Cannon said.

Transfer station function

A transfer facility is a middle point where recyclables and waste are temporarily stored compacted and transferred to larger trucks, then hauled to recycling centers or landfills for final processing and permanent disposal.

Landfills are permanent locations where waste is disposed and managed for decades to follow.

Doug Junk, senior project manager at Geo-Logic Associates, said having the middle point keeps hauling costs lower, reduces wear and tear on roads and reduces vehicle emissions.

Transfer stations are common facilities in the Valley’s waste management system — there are 34 of them in Maricopa County.

Mr. Junk said there are still hold-over fears that exist from when facilities like landfills and transfer stations were not highly regulated before the 1970s, but now infrastructure is managed by a variety of complex environmental controls.

“Much like any waste facility, everything that goes into it has to be properly vetted and all kinds of protections are taken. All these transfer stations operate in-doors to control all that stuff — blowing litter, keeping birds away and containing the operation,” he said. “I would be willing to wager in these modern times that most people don’t realize that a transfer station is even there near their neighborhood.”

Philip Haldiman can be reached at 623-876-3697, phaldiman@newszap.com, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.

Philip Haldiman
News Editor | Peoria
@PhilipHaldiman

phaldiman@iniusa.org

Philip Haldiman is a third generation Arizona native with brief residencies on the east and west coasts. He has bachelor’s degrees in Theater and Journalism at Arizona State University, and is an award winning journalist with more than 15 years worth of experience in reporting and editing. Most recently, he took first place for investigative reporting and third place for best sustained coverage or series at the 2023 Arizona Newspapers Association awards. In his free time, he produces an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.