Commissioners to consider solid waste ordinance

By CHAD BLACKSHEAR
Herald-Banner Staff

October 12, 2008 01:21 am

— Hunt County Commissioners will discuss and possibly take action on an initial plan regarding the adoption of a county solid waste ordinance when they meet Monday morning.
The project funds are being provided via a grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
Commissioners will have the opportunity to allow input from the consulting firm R.W. Beck, which specializes in the areas of water/wastewater and solid waste.
According to County Judge John Horn, due to the topography of Hunt County, an ordinance needs to be in place to ensure that pollutants and chemical do not get into any waterways and other areas where they can do damage to the public. “I don’t think that is how we want Hunt County identified,” said Horn.
According to the NCTCOG website, the Environment and Development Department has received $75,000 in grant funding, provided by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), to undertake a technical study to help identify suitable areas for solid waste facilities in three counties in the region.
The counties participating in this project are Hunt, Johnson, and Wise counties. This funding will be used to engage a consultant to explore county concerns about land use goals, compliance with TCEQ guidelines, and to determine the viability of adopting their own municipal solid waste (MSW) facility siting ordinances.
This project addresses the “Assuring Capacity for Trash” (ACT) goal of NCTCOG’s Regional Solid Waste Management Plan.
Since 2005, six NCTCOG counties (Navarro, Hood, Kaufman, Ellis, Collin, and Palo Pinto) have developed MSW facility siting ordinances. Based on recommendations by the ACT Subcommittee, NCTCOG staff sought to encourage the remaining counties in the 16-county region to pursue their own siting ordinances.
To further the recommendations of the ACT Subcommittee, NCTCOG staff held an informational workshop on April 23, 2008 and invited representatives from North Central Texas counties still lacking a solid waste facility siting ordinance.
As a result of this workshop, Hunt, Johnson, and Wise counties formally stated that they would like to develop ordinances through a TCEQ–funded technical study. This will enable these counties to designate suitable and unsuitable MSW facility locations within the county.
Some counties are “built out” to such a degree (e.g. Dallas) that they felt this would never become an issue for them and some other, more rural, counties felt that they were not ready to address the issue at this time.