Compost Plant Permit Improper, Lawsuit Claims

Spokane County’s zoning code doesn’t allow a composting facility at Colbert, a citizens’ coalition says in a new lawsuit.

The suit was filed on Friday against Spokane County, the city of Spokane and O.M. Scott & Sons, operators of the Colbert plant.

Concerned Citizens of Colbert, a group of neighbors who’ve complained for months about odors at the city-owned facility, want it shut down.

Spokane County commissioners should halt operations because they don’t have a proper permit to operate a garbage transfer station on the site, said the group’s attorney, Steve Eugster.

It was Eugster’s second suit against the city in three days. On Wednesday, Eugster sued the city in an attempt to stop the annexation of Glenrose Prairie.

“It’s a pure land-use question. This is not a commercial composting facility,” Eugster said.

The county zoning code limits recycling activities at a transfer site to ferrous metals, aluminum, glass, plastics, paper and other reusable items. The code doesn’t mention yard waste.

City and county officials think the site was properly permitted, said Phil Williams, director of Spokane’s regional garbage authority.

“We don’t feel the county made any errors at all designating this as a commercial composting operation,” Williams said.

Since May, the odor-plagued plant has received three Clean Air Act violations from the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority. More than 1,600 people have called the agency to say the plant stinks.

On Monday, the City Council will again discuss the plant’s fate.

The council voted 4-2 on Aug. 7 to end their contract with O.M. Scott. But Councilman Joel Crosby has been working to line up votes to reverse that decision.

There now may be four votes to keep it open, Williams said.

, DataTimes