November 15, 2005

Solid Waste Issues

By Nathan Moore
This is not a nice topic, but one that demands attention or else we all suffer. Metro has proposed to use a rock quarry in Bellevue as a landfill

The Newsom Pointe Land Reclamation Project, a 10-year plan to fill in the 17-acre rock quarry at 7848 McCrory Lane in Bellevue, is scheduled for a hearing before the Solid Waste Regional Board Nov. 29. Passing the hearing will be a major step in moving the reclamation project forward. The project will fill in more than 1.1 million cubic yards of the quarry over approximately eight to 10 years.

Material for the infill will be generated from construction and demolition waste of proposed subdivisions in Cheatham County and the surrounding Bellevue area such as the Biltmore subdivision for which JMJ Holdings of Dallas plans to build a mixed-use residential and commercial development covering more than 1,100 acres.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but to proceed with this quarry transformation would be acting ultra vires, and completely outside the bounds of the law. It is true that the state still has to approve it, but if the Metro solid waste management plan itself has not yet been approved, I find it hard to believe that the state would allow such a project to go forward. If there is some loophole or other option Metro has that I am missing here, I would like to know about it.