County Board Approves Landfill Site; Now It's Up to IEPA

The Effingham County Board Thursday voted that Effingham Crossroads Landfill, LLC has met all nine siting criteria for a new solid waste landfill immediately east of the current Landfill 33, and immediately west and south of residential properties just outside Effingham.

Board members went through each criterion, voting individually on each one. There were no dissenting votes on any of the criteria.

Now that the County Board has approved the site, the matter will go before the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which would issue the permit for the landfill.

(DAN BORRIES, WHOSE PROPERTY IS IMMEDIATELY EAST OF THE LANDFILL SITE, SPEAKING IN JANUARY AT THE HEARINGS ON THE PROPOSED SITE)

There was little discussion on most of the siting criteria, but Criterion 3 took some time before a decision was reached. Criterion 3 states "The facility is located so as to Minimize Impact with the Character of the Surrounding Area and to Minimize the Effect on the Value of the Surrounding Property." 

Larry Clark, who served as the Hearing Officer during a two-day hearing on the landfill in January, recommended that the Board include a property valuation guarantee to the owners of all residences located within 500 feet of the landfill property, and should specifically include the Dan and Darlene Borries and Rick and Deb Stumeier residences. That recommendation was amended to include the Borries' and the Stumeiers and their immediate family, including their sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, and grandchildren. The property valuation guarantee was also amended to be for the operational life of the landfill, rather than five years, as was first suggested.

The Borries and Stumeier families, many of whom were on hand, disagreed with the decision, some angrily. 

Dan Borries said, "You wouldn't have voted this way if the landfill was going to be next to your property," and Darlene Borries said, "You don't understand. This is our heart."

The new landfill is projected to be located on 120 acres of land with a waste footprint of approximately 38 acres. The proposed landfill is projected to have a 30-year life.