DURHAM — The Butte County Board of Supervisors greenlit an agreement Tuesday with Steams, Conrad and Schmidt Consulting Engineers to develop a long-term master plan for the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility.

Public Works Director Joshua Pack presented the item to the board and broke down its necessity.

“The landfill in its current form has been in place serving the community for more than 50 years,” Pack said. “We’re on the back end of the life expectancy, we have roughly 30 years before we anticipate running out of room at the landfill.”

Pack said the recent decade has proven to be particularly difficult for the facility and has brought an uptick in waste being brought to the landfill.

“We’ve had a lot of changes in the last 10 years at the landfill,” Pack said. “We’ve seen a significant increase in use. Landfill traffic has increased by 60 percent over the last 10 years. Tonnage rates have increased as well by 14 percent despite population decreases during that same time by roughly 11 percent. We’ve also seen recent events such as the wildfire events that have had significant impacts on the landfill and its operations.”

In December, the board approved the purchase of multiple large parcels surrounding the landfill in an effort to secure space either for the facility’s expansion or to create a buffer zone for surrounding plots of land. Pack said the purchase of this land will allow for the facility to explore more opportunities when considering a master plan.

At the state level, new laws such as Senate Bill 1383 have added to the guidelines local jurisdictions will need to adhere to, which is another facet of planning out the future for the waste and recycling facility.

Pack listed a handful of areas those involved in developing a master plan will consider. These areas consisted of the following:

• Analyzing the future waste stream.
• Trying to predict how new laws will affect the landfill.
• Looking at the current landfill operations and the potential for additional operations.
• Creating a site development plan.

The creation of the master plan is expected to last a year and a half at least before the full plan is developed and ready for approval. In the meantime, there will be meetings and discussions that take place throughout the process.

“There will be various check-ins as well as extensive stakeholder outreach with meetings involved with this,” Pack said.

According to the related agenda report, the contract with SCS Consulting Engineers comes with a maximum price tag of $328,757.

Supervisor Tod Kimmelshue asked Chief Administrative Officer Andy Pickett why the item was on the regular agenda for the board and not just the consent agenda to which Pickett explained that the item was also intended to inform the public.

“It was a way of letting the board know that this is a network that is starting to take hold now and for public awareness,” Pickett said.

During the public comment period, resident John Miller George requested that the board approve the contract.

The contract was approved unanimously by the board.

New guidelines

Before the discussion surrounding the contract with SCS Consulting Engineers took place, the board and Pack discussed a notice to comply regarding SB1383.

“For folks who are unfamiliar, SB1383 is the organics bill,” Pack said. “Which is a statewide effort to reduce emissions for short-lived climate pollutants including greenhouse gas emissions. Most agencies were required to comply with this by January 2022. The vast majority have not been able to due to a variety of reasons. Based on conversations with our peers, Butte County is pretty far ahead but we have not quite met the requirements.”

In response to various counties being unable to comply in time, Senate Bill 69 was adopted which allows jurisdictions to apply for a waiver to extend the timeline.

Pack said additional information would be provided on the county Public Works Department’s plan to comply with the legislation at a later meeting, complete with a PowerPoint presentation. He said the organics bill also comes with a waiver for rural areas that eases the requirements.

In addition to impacts on the county, Pack said the bill could also have some impact on lower-income households such as higher rates.

“Our efforts have been aimed to try and comply with minimal impact to the community, recognizing that there are some equity issues,” Pack said. “In particular, trying to force something unilaterally where some of the impacts may have disproportionate impacts on lower-income and other socio-economic classes so we’re trying to recognize that and be cognizant and try to be sensitive in how we implement that.”

Supervisor Debra Lucero moved to approve the waiver application going forward with Ritter seconding.

Chair and Supervisor Bill Connelly, before voting, said he had some concerns with the bill and how it was being implemented.

“I would like to say, this is a very complicated matter that I think wasn’t as well thought out as it should be,” Connelly said. “I mean the intent was great but the implementation could be very — this could be a mess. I would hope somebody private would do it for us. It’s another business the county’s going to get into forced on us by an unfunded mandate by the state, which everybody needs to remember, that cost is going to be applied to everybody’s trash bill. And that’s where the poor people are going to suffer the worst.”

The motion passed unanimously, allowing Pack to sign a notice requesting a waiver to extend the county’s implementation timeline.

The Butte County Board of Supervisors generally meets at 9 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at its chambers located at 25 County Center Drive, Suite 205 in Oroville. Meetings are free and open to the public. Those who are not fully vaccinated are required to wear a mask while in the building.