SARATOGA SPRINGS — Tempers flared at a City Council meeting Tuesday night when 40 residents addressed their concerns that a planned landfill would compromise the safety of their children.
Peck Rock & Products, a company that has been dumping construction waste into a county landfill for years, recently received approval from the county to expand the landfill from private to public use. That will allow anyone with construction waste access to the landfill. Only companies that had contracts with Peck Rock & Products had access prior to the county approval, said Cole Peck, co-owner of of Peck Rock & Products.
Saratoga Springs residents like Jennylin Burr, 28, are concerned because the only access to the landfill is through their Saratoga Hills subdivision. Some 16 to 19 trucks are expected to haul 25 tons of construction debris to the landfill each day along the neighborhood's main road, Grandview Boulevard. With a new school expected to be built at the corner of Redwood Road and Grandview, Burr and many other residents are worried that the increased traffic will create safety hazards for the schoolchildren.
"The potential of sending a kid across the street and combating 70 trucks just floors me," Burr said.
The residents told members of the Saratoga Springs City Council that it seems the county doesn't care how their city is going to be affected by the change.
"A lot of people that I talked to are not against the Pecks, the mining or the landfill that is currently existing there," said Phillip Burr, Jennylin Burr's husband. "The only concerns we have are the increase in traffic."
Clay Peck and Cole Peck, co-owners of Peck Rock & Products, said the company has been working to get a permit since 1998 to fill the landfill. The construction debris will be used to fill abandoned clay pits that have existed since the 1940s, each about 140 feet deep and capable of holding a total of 50,000 tons, said Cole Peck.
The company wanted to expand the use of the landfill to commercial access, and since the landfill is on state school trust land property, Peck said the company proposed to the trust lands board that the revenue earned from dumping and mining be distributed to Utah schools.
Upgrading the landfill for commercial use required approval by the state Legislature. Sen. Bill Wright, R-Elberta, sponsored the needed legislation, which was passed near the end of the recent Legislature session. The Utah County Board of Adjustments approved the status of the landfill last Saturday.
"The material (of the landfill) does not change," Peck said. "The difference in the landfill . . . is that it lets the general public be able to take (construction waste) there."
Although the land is not within Saratoga Springs boundaries, the road leading to it is. The road was originally named Clay Pit Road, but the first 1.6 miles of the street was renamed to Grandview Boulevard when homes were developed. Peck said dump trucks have been using Clay Pit Road for years, long before a subdivision was built.
"We said we don't have a problem with your subdivision," Peck said, "but don't use the truck road (as a subdivision street) because it will come back to fight us."
Peck said it is unlikely the number of trucks using the road will increase, leaving things unchanged from present use when the school is eventually built.
Peck added that he sees the commercial landfill as a benefit to Saratoga Springs because construction waste can be dumped locally.
"We want to work with your town," Peck told residents present at the meeting. "We are not bloodthirsty, we care about safety."
Many of the council members were not convinced.
"My feelings when I sat there on Saturday morning is that you haven't done enough to mitigate the safety concerns of the board of adjustments and they let you off easy," said Councilman Steve Kahn.
The only options open to the city are to file an appeal of the board's action or build another road to access the landfill.
The city has 30 days to appeal the decision, said Ken Leetham, city manager, but in the meantime, the city is looking at road options. Leetham said building a new access road could also benefit neighboring Eagle Mountain.
E-mail: jdoria@desnews.com