Down on the dump
The Lodi News-Sentinel
LODI, CALIFORNIA - As you drive east on Harney Lane past Jack Tone Road, you slowly see something that resembles a miniature version of the Egyptian pyramids.
Instead, it's the North County Recycling Center and Sanitary Landfill site, which rises 200 feet above ground level.
As a public hearing before the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors nears, ranchers who live near the North County Landfill site on Harney Lane are a little nervous that the garbage dump could be raised to an even higher elevation than it already is.
The landfill, located about nine miles east of Highway 99, rises 90 feet above the surrounding ground level, but plans earlier this year called for the garbage to rise to approximately 300 feet high. Due to neighbors' concerns, however, county officials propose to raise the garbage to only 200 feet, according to county spokeswoman Judith Buethe.
"It's a big, mummified garbage dump," said David Head, who has lived on Tully Road west of the landfill since 1985.
The county Board of Supervisors has set a public hearing on the county's landfill expansion for Dec. 5, Buethe said.
Residents on neighboring ranches are concerned about the increased truck traffic and late hours of operation. But due to residents' concerns about late-evening hours, county staff has decided to recommend heavy equipment be allowed to operate only between 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. — except during emergencies — Buethe said. However, plans also call for the number of trucks to increase from 600 per day to 850 per day.
"On a clear day, we can hear tractors back up and go 'beep, beep, beep,' plus the traffic going by all the time," said Head's wife, Judy.
Other neighbors are upset about the truck traffic on Harney Lane, the litter flying off the trucks and the people who dump furniture or appliances on the roadside, either to save money on the landfill fee or because it's past the 5 p.m. closing time.
Ron Peterson, who moved just west of the landfill seven months ago, said the "mountain" doesn't bother his family, but the debris sure does. About two months ago, a nail flew off a truck on Harney Lane, and it gave Peterson a flat tire.
Because the wind blows to the east, the Petersons don't have the garbage odors blowing toward their house. However, that's not always the case.
"When the wind blows this way (which it did recently), it smells really bad," wife Lisa Peterson said.
Bill Renfro, who owns a nursery at Harney Lane and Tully Road, is more philosophical about the towering neighbor.
"I know garbage has to go somewhere," Renfro said. "It's better up than out — so they don't take more farm land."
Still, Renfro remains skeptical about government, including the county.
"The rules (governing the landfill) don't mean anything," he said. "They'll change them in five years."
While the expansion bothers him, the landfill smell doesn't mean that much to Renfro.
"We live out here in a farming community," he said. "You get the whiffs of sprays, chicken ranches and dairies. It's all part of the deal."
Harney Lane resident Cathy Hensley, who lives about 3 miles west of the dump, is concerned primarily about the bad driving on her street, especially those rushing to beat the 5 p.m. public closing.
"We're not happy about this," Hensley said of the late-afternoon drivers. "They're nutsy. These people don't care."
Not everyone is concerned about the potential landfill expansion. One neighbor, who declined to give his name, said he calls the landfill "Mt. Dump More."
He doesn't like the traffic going in and out of the landfill, and he often picks up the litter flying out of trucks that land either on the roadway or on his property.
A draft environmental report detailing the North County Landfill expansion plans is available for review at the Lodi Public Library, 201 W. Locust St., or the county Public Works Department, 1810 E. Hazelton Ave., Stockton.
All about North County Landfill
Location: 17720 E. Harney Lane, between Tully and Clements roads.Opened: 1991.
Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter.
Area: 320 acres, 185 of it consisting of landfill, recycling station, scale house, employee/maintenance building and pump house.
Waste received: Averages 496 tons daily. In 2004, the landfill collected 178,634 tons of garbage.
Acceptable waste: Agricultural waste, appliances, tires, small pick-up loads of soil and gravel; camper shells, camper trailers.
Unacceptable items: Septic tank waste, toxic materials, large dead animals, cannery waste, mobile homes, camper trailers not dismantled into smaller sections.
Scheduled to close: 2035, but the expansion plans would increase its life until 2048.
Source: San Joaquin County Public Works Department
