Disposal center
poses no risk,
backer says

By LEE HINNANT

Donald “Red” Epperson said most opponents of his proposed Sandyfield construction recycling and disposal project don’t understand what he’s trying to do. The project, he said, won’t harm the environment but would create some jobs and provide a needed service.

The site will not accept food wastes, containers, liquids or items that would cause odors or water pollution, Epperson insists.

“What goes in there is just like the house you live in,” Epperson, of Georgia, said. “When a house is torn down, we recycle as much as possible and pile up the rest.”

Epperson’s Sandyfield Construction and Demolition Recycling and Disposal Center plan goes before the Columbus County Board of Commissioners at its July 17 meeting at 6:30 p.m. Commissioners will consider holding a public hearing on whether to grant the project a franchise agreement. Such a deal would allow the developer to apply for needed state environmental permits.

Opponents – including residents of nearby East Arcadia – have fought the plan since Sandyfield Town Council approved the operation in December 2004. Sandyfield’s plans to satellite annex the site fell through and the land is beyond Sandyfield’s one-mile extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction.

Although regulated as a construction and demolition debris landfill, the facility is vastly different from landfills that accept regular household garbage, Epperson stressed.

Residents against the project have appeared at Sandyfield town meetings and held a protest march in May. They say they fear the construction debris landfill could contaminate streams and groundwater, create dust and noise and generate excessive heavy truck traffic.

Epperson and his consultant said the bottom of the debris pile would be at least four feet above the highest seasonal level of groundwater. County and federal maps confirm that the entire site is outside the 100-year floodplain and that there are no wetlands on the site.

There will be no excavation for the debris area, Epperson said. “The materials are inert,” he said. “There is no danger.” Stormwater runoff would be held on the site, he said.

Site plans call for maintaining at least a 50-foot buffer between the disposal area and streams and property lines, plus a 500-foot buffer between the disposal area and a private dwelling.

The facility would operate only during daylight hours during the week and for a half-day on Saturday, Epperson said.

The 30 to 40 trucks going to the Sandyfield Center would be negligible, considering existing truck traffic that serves the nearby sawmill and paper mill, Epperson said. He said incoming debris would be monitored at the gate and by the debris spreading staff. Contractors who tried to mix in household garbage would be warned, then fined for such violations. He said that operators would collect and remove any household garbage brought to the site.

Epperson said that when Sandyfield granted a franchise in 2004, it was with the understanding that the town would receive a tipping fee of $1.50 a ton, which he estimated would bring in $100,000 a year. Such a sum would have allowed the tiny town to hire a police officer, build a fire station or make other improvements, he suggested.

“I looked at it as a win-win situation,” he said. “I just want to open a facility and go to work. It’s all going to be on the table … I really feel that I haven’t gotten a fair shake yet.”