Garbage transfer station approved in Round Lake Park; appeal expected
A plan to build a garbage transfer station in Round Lake Park has cleared a significant step, but an appeal is expected.
The village board on Thursday voted 4-3 to officially adopt a resolution finding that Groot Industries Inc. met nine state-required criteria to locate and operate what would be Lake County’s first garbage transfer station.
“The biggest concern everybody had on the board was health, safety and welfare,” village attorney Peter Karlovics said.
Groot filed the application for the facility at the northeast corner of Route 120 and Porter Drive in June. As local siting authority, the board hosted a public hearing that spanned about 40 hours, and examined considerable evidence and testimony.
Mayor Linda Lucassen cast the deciding vote on the controversial topic.
“I went to all the hearings, read all the transcripts,” she said. “I think Groot has been bending over backward to make sure they met the burdens of proof on all nine criteria.”
One main objector, the Timber Creek Homes mobile home park, disagreed. The park has more than 700 residents immediately west of the site.
“It is not the end at all,” park owner Larry Cohn said. “There will be an appeal.”
Round Lake Park’s approval of Groot’s application came with two dozen conditions intended to address potential concerns of the village and other entities, including Round Lake, Grayslake, Hainesville and the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.
“We took all of them under advisement,” Lucassen said. “We tried to be very cautious.”
Those included: limits on operating hours; provisions to keep doors of the facility closed during certain times except to allow trucks; a limit of an average of 750 tons of trash accepted per day; and provisions to maintain cleanliness, control odors, pests, litter and noise.
Conditions also prohibit left turns at certain times onto Route 120 from Porter Drive, and requires Groot to coordinate with the Lake County Division of Transportation on roadway improvements.
The resolution also adopts the lengthy findings of fact by hearing officer Phillip A. Luetkehans, who presided over the public hearing. Those and other documents are available at www.roundlakepark.us or www.swalco.org.
The positive finding will be forwarded to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which must approve an operating permit for the facility. That decision won’t be made until all appeals are exhausted.