County plans transfer station

Kootenai County is getting a new place for residents to dump their trash.

The county wants to start construction next spring on a $12 million transfer station north of Post Falls on Pleasant View Road.

The new facility will become the county’s second transfer station and give the residents another place to drop off garbage and recyclables. Currently, Ramsey Road is the only transfer station, and on some weekends the line of pickup trucks piled high with trash, grass clippings and aluminum cans is backed up into the street.

The county’s soaring population brings with it an increase of trash.

Last year the amount of garbage taken to the Fighting Creek Landfill south of Coeur d’Alene increased by 36 million pounds, which is the equivalent weight of about 13,333 passenger cars. A total of 272 million pounds of garbage went into the landfill.

Solid Waste Director Roger Saterfiel expects an even larger increase this year with no real end in sight.

“We’re blowing all the previous records out of the water,” Saterfiel said, noting that in 1993 about 140 million pounds was trucked to the landfill.

On an average summer day, the Ramsey transfer station has about 1,200 customers. This summer it had one day with more than 1,600 people. Last year the number of customers increased by 42,000 people.

Saterfiel said the 67-acre Pleasant View Road site that the county bought last year is a prime location because it has 3,700 feet of rail line access. That will give the county the ability to eventually ship garbage by train to an out-of-area landfill and prolong the life of the Fighting Creek landfill.

Saterfiel said the county probably won’t need to ship garbage for at least 20 years, but now is the time to plan for the future.

The Fighting Creek landfill is anticipated to last until 2037, but Saterfiel said that’s based on a 5 percent annual growth factor. Last year the amount of garbage increased 18 percent so Saterfiel said the county may need to use the rail option a lot sooner than planned.

“This is called planning for the future,” Kootenai County Commissioner Katie Brodie said.

Saterfiel said the property is in an industrial zone near a gravel pit and aluminum plant so there shouldn’t be too much protest. He also said people need to understand it’s a transfer station, not a landfill, and that the county won’t bury any garbage at the site.

In 2001 the county abandoned its plans to build a transfer station near Garwood because of public opposition.

The $12 million transfer station is the largest project in the county’s proposed 2006 budget, which totals $72.5 million.

Saterfiel said the design and construction won’t increase taxes because the money comes from the county landfill fee. Kootenai County property owners pay a $84 annual landfill fee, which hasn’t increased since 1997.