WM navigates community pushback on Akron transfer station proposal

Houston-based WM’s proposed transfer station in Akron, Ohio, faced protests at a public hearing held by Akron City Council, as various stakeholders came out in support of and in opposition to the project, reports the Akron Beacon Journal.

WM is seeking approval of an application for a conditional-use permit for a proposed fully enclosed transfer, hauling and recycling facility, to be called the Akron Eco-Center, designed to help serve the growing waste and recycling needs of the area and replace a legacy transfer station. It’s an estimated $20 million project that would be built at 1400 E. Archwood Ave. on the city’s east side.

“WM works to be a good neighbor, and we remain committed to the environment and the community in Akron,” the company says in a statement to Waste Today.

At a city council hearing, local Akron residents spoke in opposition to the facility, expressing concerns about odors, property value, rodents and noise.

Speaking in favor of the Eco-Center was a spokesperson for the Middlebury, Ohio-based group Families Against City Transfer Stations, who says the group supports the facility after touring a nearby WM facility and spending time with WM representatives who answered questions and addressed concerns.

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The group says it is satisfied with various elements of the proposed project, including the fact that the property WM proposes to build and operate on is roughly seven times larger than its current site, that the facility would be designed to a higher standard than the current center and that the center’s transfer building would be oriented in such a way that prevailing winds would mitigate odors.

Additional support letters came from the nonprofit organization Keep Akron Beautiful; IRG Realty Advisors LLC, which has properties and tenant partners at East Archwood Avenue properties; Akron-based data center company Integra Mission Critical; and the mayor of Oakwood Village, Ohio, where WM operates its Cleveland Transfer Station.

The new facility would replace both the waste transfer station facility at 389 Fountain St. in Middlebury and the WM Akron Recycling facility at 1535 Exeter Road. According to the city of Akron Public Works Bureau, the modern facility would be located considerably further from residents’ homes than either of those facilities, and would be situated on a larger parcel of land within an industrial and commercial zone. If the permit is not granted, the existing, legacy operation located on Fountain Street would remain in operation, WM says.

The company’s proposed facility would handle recyclables and, as a transfer station, temporarily store waste from Akron and Cuyahoga Falls. On its website, WM calls the proposed Eco-Center one of its “innovative recycling and waste solutions that help fuel the continuous reuse of materials.”

The Eco Center would have the ability to serve the growing waste and recycling needs of the area, WM says, designed to support streamlined waste collection and optimized routing and disposal solutions. Operational improvements would include a new refuse and recycling transfer station, truck scales, a hauling site, a maintenance shop, a small office and a compressed natural gas fueling station.

WM says the facility would have a state-of-the-art odor control system as well as landscaping buffers and a fully enclosed operation with robust routine cleaning. Additionally, the Eco-Center proposal includes a community drop-off location for residents to discard small items. This pay service would be located inside a gated area during business hours.

Parties on both sides of the debate submitted more than 1,200 additional pages of documents to the city of Akron ahead of Thursday’s hearing, the Beacon Journal reports, including more than 1,000 pages of documents from WM that included a traffic impact study, an odor control report, ambient sound level and sound impact analysis, environmental impact study and land planning analysis.

In its statement to Waste Today, WM says the company “remains committed to the environment, doing the right thing for the Akron community and a continued intent to invest in a more sustainable future for the city of Akron. We believe the proposed WM Akron Eco-Center meets the requirements for granting the conditional use permit.”