The contract is signed, the land is leased and Ada County Commissioners Rick Yzaguirre and Sharon Ullman (who has about 8 weeks left in office) are fully committed to the Dynamis waste-to-energy project. But that’s not stopping the Ada County Planning and Zoning Commission from giving the public something they have never had the opportunity to do since the project started more than two years ago: voice its opinion.
On Thursday, the public can finally officially tell the county what it thinks about county’s public/private partnership with Dynamis Energy to build a waste-to-energy plant at the county-owned landfill.
The all-volunteer Planning and Zoning Commission has no authority over the project, but they do have they ability to let the public speak before them and then enter those comments into the public record.
The Planning Commission voted on Oct. 25 to hold the hearing, saying the public deserved a chance to comment on the project, but cautioned that the Planning Commission is a recommending body only and has no authority to reverse commissioner decisions.
The county has never held a public hearing on the waste-to-energy project because Commissioners Yzaguirre and Ullman and their legal counsel say one is not needed, even though Dynamis plans to build a plant that will generate up to 22 megawatts of electricity by gasifying up to 408 tons of trash and tires daily.
The public hearing begins at 6 p.m. in the main floor hearing of the Ada County Courthouse, 200 W. Front St. Free parking is available in the lot on the east side of the courthouse.
Citizens opposed to the project plan on staging a protest starting at 5:15 p.m.
