By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager
Department of Ecology could close San Juan site June 30, necessitating dump runs to Orcas
The San Juan County Council on May 18 sent a letter to Friday Harbor’s Town Council asking that the Town pay the cost of erecting an enclosure over the tipping floor at the San Juan Island transfer station.
The County had planned to finance the cover until, on April 1, the Town unexpectedly withdrew its offer to sell the transfer station property to the County.
In the wake of that decision, the County suspended work preparing to erect the $165,000 enclosure and to make other capital improvements.
The Washington Department of Ecology then notified the County that unless significant progress is made toward covering the floor and making other compliance-related improvements, the facility would not be allowed to operate as a transfer station beyond the end of June.
Tuesday, Public Works Director Jon Shannon told the Council that the County’s solid waste utility is prepared to modify the trash facility’s operation to make it a “drop box” facility that it could continue to handle garbage brought in by self-haulers after June 30. However, he said the DOE and County Health Officials “may or may not” allow Town and franchise hauler garbage “packer” trucks to unload into the drop box.
That would mean that trash and garbage trucks operated by the Town and others would have to travel to the transfer station on Orcas to unload, significantly increasing the time each truck and driver would be out of service and incurring ferry fees.
The County Council’s letter notes that in discussions between County and Town staffs, “the Town has indicated a desire to try to maintain the operation of the [San Juan Island] facility as a transfer station.” And the letter suggests that the town finance the construction of an enclosure over the tipping floor and negotiate a lease-back agreement for the constructed facility with the County utility.
The letter cites as justification for this approach, the expiration of the County’s lease for the transfer station property in 2014 and the resulting uncertainty over whether the County will be able to operate the facility beyond the expiration date.
In the meantime the solid waste utility will continue to seek a modification to its operating permit which would allow it to continue operations as a drop box facility if it is forced to stop its transfer station operation at the end of June.
The Council also affirmed its direction to the Public Works Department that it should continue the planning process to build a replacement solid waste facility on the County-owned property adjacent to the current transfer station.
The County Council’s letter was hand delivered to representatives of the Town shortly after the May 18 meeting.
