County ready to begin green-box consolidation
Merger of Marion, Kila collection sites first on the list
Flathead County is moving forward on several fronts with plans to consolidate and streamline its green-box garbage-collection sites.
Construction bids will be opened next week for the new Ashley Lake Road green-box site that will replace the Kila and Marion collection sites.
It will take about 45 days to complete, beginning Sept. 6, and at that point the Solid Waste board will have to decide if the new site will open this year or next spring, County Public Works Director Dave Prunty told the county commissioners on Wednesday.
The State Land Board OK'd an easement for the Ashley Lake Road site and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has harvested six loads of timber from the site, Prunty said. The county recently paid the state $32,800 for a 30-year lease on the property at the intersection of Ashley Lake Road and U.S. 2.
No closure date has been set yet for the Kila and Marion sites, but they will be shut down at some point after the Ashley Lake site is opened.
The proposal to close the Kila and Marion sites drew a great deal of opposition from residents of those areas who are content with the existing green-box sites and don't want to haul their trash to an alternative site.
The county estimated it will cost about $375,000 to engineer and construct the new site and about $70,000 a year to operate it. But in the long run a consolidated site is expected to be more cost-effective.
Also under consideration are consolidating the Bigfork and Creston sites, probably at Creston, and merging the Lakeside site into Somers.
The county wants to close all of the green-box sites within 10 years or so. After that, licensed private haulers would provide trash-hauling service or residents could take their garbage to the county landfill.
AT THE eastern end of Flathead County, plans are in the works to close the three smallest collection sites, at Essex, Nyack and Glacier Haven Inn (formerly known as the Denny's site).
Prunty said he plans to hold a public meeting in West Glacier in late August to get feedback from those communities. The three remote sites collect less than 1 percent of the county's garbage, yet at $104 per ton to haul the refuse, they're the costliest sites, he said.
The Coram site, located on county land, is secure for the time being and would serve the Canyon and Middle Fork areas.
THE COUNTY wants to purchase the 3.21 acres off Montana 82 that houses the Somers green-box site to ensure it can keep a facility at that location. On Wednesday the commissioners agreed to offer the state $130,000 for the land.
"It's a great site and our desire to purchase the property is very strong," Prunty said.
The Montana Department of Transportation did its own appraisal of the property and pegged the market value at $158,000, but two separate appraisals done by Flathead appraisers estimated it's worth $130,000.
The county has budgeted $175,000 to buy the Somers site.
The state will renegotiate the lease, Prunty said, but has a 30-day opt-out clause that "would upset the apple cart if they wanted out."
About one-third of the county's total waste collections comes from the green-box sites. In fiscal year 2008, 120,515 tons of refuse was collected, of which 30,313 tons came from green boxes.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com