Opposition surfaces to Carol Stream landscape waste facility

A Carol Stream Park District commissioner is spearheading a campaign opposing the location of a landscape waste transfer facility in the village.

John Jaszka launched an online petition drive through change.org asking the village to reconsider allowing the facility to move to Kuhn Road.

It asks officials to instead work with Organic Soils, Inc., the company that will operate the facility, to instead place it in Carol Stream's industrial park.

The village board in August approved a lease agreement with Organic to operate the facility at the northeast corner of Kuhn Road and McNees Drive near the Water Reclamation Center.

The facility will serve as a drop-off point for landscape waste haulers and contractors where discarded materials will be placed in a larger trailer and transported to a composting center in Bristol.

Organic officials expect to handle 25 to 37 incoming trucks a day, or roughly three or four an hour, according to the village's website. That number doesn't include outbound trailers.

As of Monday, Jaszka's petition had 125 supporters, most from Carol Stream.

Jaszka said he learned about the transfer facility from a Daily Herald article.

"People are OK with having the landscape waste transfer station and I am completely OK with having that in Carol Stream as well," he said.

But residents he has talked to say they'd prefer the facility be in the industrial park, "where you're not going to impact bike trails, walking trails, parks (and) a high school with 2,500 kids that go there."

Jaszka said his top concern is truck traffic on Kuhn Road.

Although the transfer trailers will be prohibited from using Kuhn Road north of the facility, there are no restrictions for other vehicles, such as those used by Flood Brothers waste haulers. The facility also can accept waste from other towns.

But Assistant Community Development Director Don Bastian said most such vehicles avoid local roads because of their lower speed limits.

Jaszka said he's also concerned with debris coming off trucks and the possibility the transfer station will adversely affect nearby property values.

Many who signed Jaszka's petition left comments criticizing the facility's placement.

"Who would be interested (in) purchasing a house with a waste facility in their backyard. Let the mayor build one in his backyard since he seems to be in favor of it," Sylvia Bradford wrote.

Karen Guccione said the noise will be "intolerable."

"We are already putting up with the trucks from the road construction work which is temporary (we hope)," Guccione wrote. "No more commercial endeavors on little residential Kuhn Road."

Jaszka said few in town even know about the facility.

The village on Friday posted an online page with information about the facility, including a timeline and details of the steps leading to its approval.

The site also mentions times when residents could have learned about the facility, including dates when articles on the project were published, the date when the proposal was mentioned in the village's E-Stream newsletter and the dates when board meeting agendas were posted online.

"I don't think it was hidden from anyone," Village Manager Joseph Breinig said.

Jaszka said the village should have done more.

"I don't think they did nearly enough to solicit feedback," he said.

To learn more about the transfer facility, visit www.carolstream.org.