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Landfill study spares Ace Golf for the moment

County commissioners will hear the results of a new study on expanding the Northwest Landfill on Sept. 21.

By AMBER MOBLEY
Published September 11, 2005

CITRUS PARK - Taking a deeper look at expansion options for a trash facility has Hillsborough County digging deeper in its pockets.

Because of resident concerns, in part, commissioners decided 4-3 Wednesday to spend nearly $30,000 to study how the county can expand the Northwest Landfill without destroying Ace Golf or the aesthetic value of Westchase.

So far, county-issued studies show that the best location for expansion at the 160-acre landfill is property that Ace Golf, a driving range, occupies. The 15 acres where Ace Golf sits has the least amount of trash buried beneath, which makes building there cheaper and easier, said Chris Snow, principal planner for Hillsborough County's solid waste management department.

But further study may prove that other land is just as feasible.

The solid waste department plans to present results of the new study to commissioners on Sept. 21.

Still, like the Ace Golf site, other land at the site has obstacles.

Expanding south would decimate Ace Golf and bring facility operations closer to the main street. But expanding north may still require the Ace Golf land, would make the transfer station more visible from the Upper Tampa Bay walking trail and Veterans Expressway, and would interfere with a nearby flying club.

For months, golfing range owner Bill Place and his supporters have asked that the county seriously consider building on other areas of the landfill.

Place, who leases 15 acres from the county, said in a letter last week that if the county commissioned another land study, he would help with the costs. He also said he would share some of the construction expenses. Place pays the county $20,000 a year in rent. His seven-year lease includes four two-year renewals, but the county can break the lease at any time.

The landfill accepted mostly yard waste and construction debris until the 1970s. It now has a yard waste disposal site and a solid waste transfer station, where garbage trucks dump their loads into a larger carrier.

The disposal site and transfer station are getting too small to handle the demands of northwest Hillsborough County, let alone the needs for the next 20 to 25 years, Snow said.

Trash trucks often wait in long lines on Linebaugh Avenue to dump their loads, which clogs traffic and slows trash pickups.

Some commissioners argued that spending extra time and money studying other expansion sites will only make the problems linger, and that building on the Ace Golf site is the simplest remedy.

"(Trash pickup trucks) don't get there because of our indecision ... We're impeding," said Commissioner Jim Norman. "And then we want to put thousands of dollars of fines on them for not doing their jobs."

Providing better sanitation service should be the county's first priority, said Commissioner Thomas Scott.

"We've already studied it, studied it again and done study on top of study," Scott said. "This is public land for garbage, not somebody's business."

Despite the continued debate, Place is glad the county is considering other locations.

"I think it's great. It shows the commissioners are listening to the public," he said. "I think they're doing a good thing."

[Last modified September 10, 2005, 09:32:05]