Akron has voted to move forward with the construction of the WM waste transfer station on the city's east side.
Council voted 10 - 3 in favor of the waste transfer station at 1400 East Archwood Ave. Monday, following ongoing public discourse urging council to allow for more time before making their decision.
The 14-acre waste transfer station will serve as a handoff point for local waste before it's transferred to larger trucks to be transported outside of the city. The East Archwood station will replace the current Fountain Street location.
The current site meets Ohio EPA standards and abides by local regulations, said WM Area Disposal Manager Erick Palmer. However, there is no room to make upgrades.
"I've spent the last several months talking about why and how a modern state of the art transfer station is better with its updated design materials technologies to prevent odors, noise and traffic impacts to the neighborhood," he said. "But if you decide tonight to either delay your vote or no vote, the decommissioning of Fountain Street and the $20 million construction of a new transfer station will not be possible."
East Akron residents concerned with the move cite concerns over odor, noise and traffic coming from the new location. But these concerns have already been addressed by the WM team, Palmer said.
"WM has not ignored neighbors complaints through the years. Rather, WM has listened to Fountain Street neighbors and has done its best to make things better," he said. "But the constraints of this antiquated facility, the size of the site, and most importantly, the proximity to residential neighbors makes the design impossible to improve or modernize."
The proposed site on East Archwood Avenue would be 500 to 1,000 feet away from homes in the area, according to Mayor Shammas Malik's office. The current facility on Fountain Street is directly adjacent to homes.
Before its approval of the conditional use permit, council considered a proposal to table the vote on it. Council President Margo Sommerville said doing so would help ensure the issues presented by the Fountain Street site were not repeated at East Archwood Avenue.
"We're trying to make sure that no one has to go through what the poor folks ... are going through around Fountain Street again. That's what we want to make sure of," she said. "And so even if the community didn't have an opportunity to have input on the conditions, the community at least should have been able to establish a community benefits agreement with Waste Management."
The motion to table the vote was defeated 8-5.
Though the move is approved, conversations between WM and the public will continue, Palmer said.
"Our conversations with the neighbors will not cease. WM is committed to listening to and speaking with the neighbors at Archwood and Fountain Street," Palmer said. "WM is willing to form a citizen's advisory council to meet every six months, which will include direct conversations between regulators, residents, business owners and other members of this board."
