The long-term future of the Butler County Landfill is up in the air after the board by a 5-2 vote on Wednesday, April 24, denied the Landfill’s most recent citing application. “This is a necessary step to overcome last week’s decision by the Butler County Board of Supervisors to block the future development of the Landfill,” Danielson said, through a released statement. “The county’s unfortunate decision places a tremendous premium on the limited remaining space for waste material disposal.”
A similar expansion application in 2015 was denied by the then-Butler County Board of Supervisors on two occasions because members deemed that two of the six specific criteria needed for expansion set by the state were not met.
As with the 2015 decision, the board once again made the determination that the first two required criteria weren’t met. In order to forward the landfill’s application to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), all of the following criteria had to be met with a majority ‘yes’ vote: Is the landfill necessary for the county? Is it designed to protect health, safety and overall welfare of its residents? It is compatible with the surrounding area? Can the site be operated in a safe manner? Are the traffic patterns to or from the landfill designed to minimize the impact on existing traffic flows and is the experience of the facility operator adequate?
The governing body cited issues with the overall necessity of the facility as well as some issues relating to health, safety and overall welfare of county residents. The conversation regarding what will become of the landfill has been lengthy and controversial. In January, an approximately six-hour long public hearing was held inside of the David City Auditorium that presented a platform for those for and against the expansion to speak their minds.