By MorinvilleNews.com Staff
Sturgeon County – County Council gave unanimous first reading to a bylaw that would rezone the Roseridge Regional Waste Management Facility to Specific Development Control District Ten from its current Intermunicipal Fringe A designation.
The County’s Land Usage Bylaw does not make provision for the operation of a waste management facility on lands designated Intermunicipal Fringe A, a situation necessitating the change in designation. The re-designation would help ensure the landfill is compliant with Alberta Environment when the County prepares to renew the permits for the landfill, set to expire in June of 2012.
The facility, located 1.5 kilometres east of Morinville, currently carries a Class II landfill designation, permitting it to be used for the disposal of secure, non-hazardous waste. The proposed bylaw’s permitted uses include the landfill serving as a Class II landfill and Class II compost facility, recycling centre and hazardous waste collection centre.
Although there are no changes planned for the disposal, treatment or processing of wastes at the facility, the rezoning and related bylaw would support the future progression of the facility.
Discretionary usage as defined under the proposed bylaw would include using the facility for incineration, recycling processing centre, soil treatment. Even closure or transitional usage of the landfill would require a development permit from Sturgeon County before proceeding.
The regional landfill services the towns of Morinville, Bon Accord, Gibbons, Legal, and Redwater in addition to Sturgeon County itself sits on 120 acres of provincially owned land and 105 acres of land owned by the Roseridge Waste Management Services Commission. The provincially owned land is on a long-term lease to Sturgeon County.
When the landfill opened in 1980, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Board of Health and was grandfathered into the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act’s jurisdiction in 1996.
Since applying for approval under the Waste Control Regulation, the landfill has acquired additional land from the Town of Morinville and private owners to help with future expansion needs.
