The Ada County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a special meeting Thursday regarding the proposed waste-to-energy project at the county landfill.
The commission majority has so far declined to hold a public hearing on the Dynamis proposal, which would turn landfill trash into gas and produce power with that gas. They say a hearing is not needed because the project is an allowed use within the county-owned landfill. The commission has approved the project, but no building permits have been issued.
On Sept. 11, citizens delivered petitions signed by 181 people asking for a hearing. Idaho law allows “20 affected persons” to petition for a hearing.
Planning commissioners have agreed to discuss the petitions. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the main floor hearing room, Ada County Courthouse, 200 W. Front St.
Other Dynamis-related developments:
ENGINEER RESIGNS
Jim Farrens stepped down earlier this month in part because of the county’s handling of the Dynamis project.
Farrens, appointed by the county commissioners in 2006, wrote a letter Aug. 28 to his boss, Development Services Director Meg Leatherman, recommending “a professional peer review of the plans and documents ... to assure that the safety, health and welfare of the public is not jeopardized by this project.” He said he wasn’t qualified “by experience or training” to do the Dynamis review. Leatherman has not responded to past Statesman questions.
“My comments were duly disregarded,” Farrens said.
Commissioner Dave Case asked for the third-party review Farrens recommended, but Commissioners Rick Yzaguirre and Sharon Ullman did not support the request.
Farrens cited a “mutual lack of trust and mutual lack of respect” with his supervisors when he resigned. “It was the only honorable thing to do,” he told the Statesman.
NO LEASE AGREEMENT
The county does not have a signed agreement with Dynamis to lease about 10 acres at the landfill. A draft agreement has been in discussion for more than a month.
The commissioners several times scheduled meetings to approve the agreement, but Dynamis failed to return the draft, so each meeting was canceled.
The commission is slated to consider the lease agreement again at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, but first the commission will hold a public hearing on a resolution affirming that the county has established an industrial park at the landfill. Under state law, a county can lease land it owns without going to public auction if it is for industrial park use.
No public testimony is planned on the lease agreement, and Case said Friday that he has not seen a copy of the resolution.
AIR QUALITY PERMIT DELAYED
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has announced it needs additional time to review Dynamis’ application. The state plans to send a draft of its final action to Dynamis within two to four weeks. The company has 10 days to respond, then DEQ will set a 30-day comment period.
Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428, Twitter: @CynthiaSewell
