Need Help...... Landfill Issue !!!

[Sandee McCullen]

OHV enthusiasts.....
I have been meeting with the landfill owners, attorneys, promoters this past week. They are definitely making a good case but there are still numerous issues "under the surface" but it is looking better and better as an overall plan.

What I need.................. just found out I am to meet the owners, promotors at the site tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. Sure would like to have someone at my side for this field trip!!!! Yes, they are offering to pave Cottonwood Canyon and build an OHV Staging site just on the edge of the private property but there are still numerous issues regarding safety (big trucks and OHV tow vehicles and trailers and/or 4x4's alone) I have opened the issue of an OHV park (BIG MUD PIT; rock crawl site; obstacle course etc) on the 300+ acres they propose to have zoned as "open space". Last week they frowned and said they couldn't say what Pinal County would do with it that they had asked for it to be kept "as is". There is ONE old Jeep trail that crosses this property and I can't believe Sierra Club wants "vista trails" connecting to a landfill........ WHY NOT an OHV Park? Today I proposed giving the land to the OHV Coalition, not the county, allowing US to develop and managed play area. They are thinking about it.

Long story................. we ALL need to be at the table on this one so I'm proposing postponing the Zoning meeting for a couple of months to allow time for planning..........

If ANYONE can meet me in the morning it would be appreciated!!!! 7:30 a.m. at the staging area at Cottonwood Canyon Rd & Hwy 79.

[GRUNT]

Sorry Sandee I cannot make it to this one. If you need help after the 19th I can gladly help/go to any meetings you have/need. My FD schedule gives my plenty of time off....

[ArizonaXJ]

I don't know the whole story behind this but loosing the Artillery partially due to loosing Florence as a training area makes me wish that I could attend that much more....Then again, maybe it is a blessing that I can't be there. I may open my big mouth and cause more heart ache....

[Number 7]

I will be there at 7:30 at the staging area. Is there anything I should know prior to the meeting? George

[Sandee McCullen]

I don't know the whole story behind this but loosing the Artillery partially due to loosing Florence as a training area makes me wish that I could attend that much more....Then again, maybe it is a blessing that I can't be there. I may open my big mouth and cause more heart ache....

The National Guard status will not change. The only issue the landfill proponents are working out with ANG is "how to get trucks through on live firing days". The entire ANG area will soon be fenced and on live fire days "casual users" will be required to travel the gasline east to Mineral Mtn and go in that way. Landfill attorney says it may end up that on live fire days the landfill trucks cannot go in to the landfill.???? They don't know yet.............

[ArizonaXJ]

They needn't worry about artillery live fire days anymore. The developers won down there. The artillery is gone from this state. Last year the 1-180th became the 1-158th Infantry and the 2-180 will be gone very, very soon, say by thanksgiving?!?!? Not exactly sure what they will be re designated as, MP's, engineers??? H**l, they may become "fightin finance" still.
Florence's days are numbered for use by anyone...except the developers. They have some serious cash and know who to schmooze downtown.
Enjoy it while you can........

[Sandee McCullen]

They needn't worry about artillery live fire days anymore. The developers won down there. The artillery is gone from this state. Last year the 1-180th became the 1-158th Infantry and the 2-180 will be gone very, very soon, say by thanksgiving?!?!? Not exactly sure what they will be re designated as, MP's, engineers??? H**l, they may become "fightin finance" still.
Florence's days are numbered for use by anyone...except the developers. They have some serious cash and know who to schmooze downtown.
Enjoy it while you can........

The FJ area has been accepted by Pinal County as Open Space with multi-use; the MGCP has been working for 7 years in developing an open space area designated to remain open access to ALL outdoor recreation AND the Morrison Inst. that did the Superstition Vistas "vision" has also accepted the MGCP plan to "keep this area open for multi-use recreation". Their proposal will reflect the State Trust Lands east of Hwy 79 remain Open Space. IF this landfill goes through it's a plus for our side to discourage developers from pushing State Land Dept. to sell for development.

Another plus for this area is the landfill developers will be purchasing a legal right-of-way for Cottonwood Canyon and then paving it and turning it over to the county. This will make it a legal county road.......... another deterent for a developer. Cottonwood Canyon Road could not be closed to access to BLM lands east of State Trust Lands or any maybe developments.

I don't know specifics re your statement regarding ANG and "no live fire". I just received the "live fire schedule" through Feb. 2008..........????????? I will be meeting with ANG next Wed so will find out more specifics. I do know that ANG and ASLD signed/agreed on another lease extending a number of years out. More info later.

[ademster]

I dont have a operational jeep but if need be I can be there... but wont be able to make it until 9am

[Fire Ball]

Darn I knew I should have called in sick this week!!!

Sorry I can't be there. :(

I still have to find time to get back to Bonnie on this issue.

[ArizonaXJ]

The National Guard status will not change. The only issue the landfill proponents are working out with ANG is "how to get trucks through on live firing days". The entire ANG area will soon be fenced and on live fire days "casual users" will be required to travel the gasline east to Mineral Mtn and go in that way. Landfill attorney says it may end up that on live fire days the landfill trucks cannot go in to the landfill.???? They don't know yet.............

Well, trust me on this one; There will be no more artillery live fire days down there. I could state exact dates but that is not acceptable for me to do in an open forum (that whole security OPSEC thing). I just KNOW that there will not be any more artillery live fire. Now there WILL be small arms fire there at the ranges (.50 & smaller). The schedule that you received I am sure was provided in good faith but possibly given by someone who is NOT FA. We plan things out very, very, very far in advance. Now it is possible that your schedule is for small arms? Is it listed that there will be live fire on the 15th of September? If so, does say small arms? Because there will be small arms firing on that day.

[Number 7]

Hey Sandee,

I met Chuck Coughlio at the site of the proposed landfill in Florence Junction. The site is about ½ mile south of Cottonwood Road where the road Y’s after the cattle guard. It is about 7 miles east of Hwy. 79. The site is currently a sand and gravel operation. The landfill pit will be hidden in a horseshoe shaped mountain range. The open end of the horseshoe faces Hwy. 79, with a small mountain in the opening. The fill will be contained within that horseshoe shaped mountain range. No fill will spill over. There will be some exposed fill facing Hwy. 79 as the pit starts to fill up. When the landfill is filled it will be re-vegetated and turned into a park with ramadas and trails. Cottonwood Road will be paved to the site, and a 2 acre HOV staging area will be built near the entrance to the landfill, complete with trash containers and port-a-potties.

I have no problem with this landfill site. It’s surrounded on three sides by mountains and does not block or interfere with any trails or roads. Yes, things will change, a paved Cottonwood Road and truck traffic. But, it’s better than eating dust for 7 miles and dodging quads and motorcycles.
In a nutshell, I think these guys picked a good spot to hide a landfill and are very generous to set aside 2 acres for HOV staging.


George Zalman
602-980-5762

Feel free to post, PM or call with feedback.

[Sandee McCullen]

Hey Sandee,

I met Chuck Coughlio at the site of the proposed landfill in Florence Junction. The site is about ½ mile south of Cottonwood Road where the road Y’s after the cattle guard. It is about 7 miles east of Hwy. 79. The site is currently a sand and gravel operation. The landfill pit will be hidden in a horseshoe shaped mountain range. The open end of the horseshoe faces Hwy. 79, with a small mountain in the opening. The fill will be contained within that horseshoe shaped mountain range. No fill will spill over. There will be some exposed fill facing Hwy. 79 as the pit starts to fill up. When the landfill is filled it will be re-vegetated and turned into a park with ramadas and trails. Cottonwood Road will be paved to the site, and a 2 acre HOV staging area will be built near the entrance to the landfill, complete with trash containers and port-a-potties.

I have no problem with this landfill site. It’s surrounded on three sides by mountains and does not block or interfere with any trails or roads. Yes, things will change, a paved Cottonwood Road and truck traffic. But, it’s better than eating dust for 7 miles and dodging quads and motorcycles.
In a nutshell, I think these guys picked a good spot to hide a landfill and are very generous to set aside 2 acres for HOV staging.


George Zalman
602-980-5762

Feel free to post, PM or call with feedback.

George,
Thanks for going out today................. actually I was right behind you although we did not go all the way out to the pit itself. My objective was to get Bonnie out there to view what is going on. As I mentioned earlier, she is very "green" oriented at times. The look on her face when she saw what was there now and how she was unable to even view the pit from our vantage point, she was amazed. I am still annoyed re Chucks attitude towards her and he did call later this afternoon to apologize although it was more to me than regarding his attitude to or about Bonnie.

I've always known where the site was and what it looked like and I have not been against the landfill in itself.............. my concerns have been regarding all the many underlying issues. Quite frankly OHV are not necessarily gaining or losing anything. The paved road is not for OHV, it's for their big trucks. The dust would have had to be controlled by National Guard and/or the landfill either way.......... paved or not paved. We've functioned for many years without a staging area and quite frankly 2 acres isn't going to do anything for 4-wheelers. Maybe the ATV smaller trailers and PU's will benefit but 2 acres will never even start to base/park the number of vehicles in and out of this area on any given weekend during cooler days. This private property doesn't really mean anything to us. The "Trail System/Trail Heads" they're referring to are for closure or completion of the landfill which is estimated at 50-60 years. I don't know about you but I certainly won't see this as well as many of my GRANDCHILDREN.

Their original plans were to have the tow vehicles, trailers and ATV's; 4x4's and bikes use the same entrance into the private property. This is just unacceptable and when I mentioned it they immediately agreed the ingress/egress needed to be separate. The 5 miles across State Trust Lands will be as it is today with big trucks vs casual use. It will just be faster after being paved. Their excuse is: There will be speed signs! DUH. The 5 minutes we were inside the gate this morning there were 6 BIG trucks in........... 4 out. This number will increase. This is a safety and liability issue.

My other issue was directed at the fact they have not even notified the working partnerships that have been working for up to 7 years on "plans" for this area. If this is so legitimate and upboard WHY has it been kept behind closed doors and WHY is it being pushed so hard to be rezoned now. We have NOTHING IN WRITING and so far have not standing with the zoning commission requesting stipulations to attach to the zoning. If they get the zoning ................ open to whatever they want to do where do we fit into this if they get pissed at us. He already threatened me this morning with "No longer a staging area" because he was ticked that the OHV Coalition wrote a letter to the zoning board requesting the zoning be denied at this time until the Comprehensive Planning was complete. This letter was prior to my meeting with Chuck yesterday morning when he informed me the East Valley Planning (Superstition Vistas) didn't care what they did since it was outside the Superstition Vistas planning area. I relented and told them I would go back to the Coalition as well as to ASA4WDC this weekend with the updated facts but I was still asking they put off the rezoning for a couple of MONTHS to allow time for the partnerships and stakeholders to meet at the table. His answer was an absolute NO WAY. He was furious at me because evidently after our meeting yesterday he went back to his leaders telling them I "was in his pocket...... all was well". In my opinion he deserved being on the carpet for 12 hours........................ He was NOT told I was ok with this but he also was NOT told OHV, as a whole, would support this aggressive plan without answers. I don't believe anyone has been outright against the landfill but they truly pulled a political move by cramming this down everyones throats without understanding the underlying issues.

If there's a tragic accident on Cottonwood Road will they, or can they, close access?
Many of the answers they gave to OHV people at the public meeting are very different or inconsistent than what we're finding or hearing.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, Chuck called later this afternoon and we talked for a while............. I'm going out again tomorrow. They are still saying they will not change their stand so I guess this all stands on whether they will accept a couple of stipulations from OHV requiring certain issues be guaranteed attached to the re-zoning. More later.

[Fire Ball]

This area is what they thought would be a slam dunk for a land fill, not what would be a good place. I asked Mike why not build the land fill in the middle of trust land that is already closed to vehicles of any kind and no one hikes there and there are no significant historical sites.?

He said that would be difficult to do because of the land being in State Land trust, this area is mush easier.

[azcharlie]

Any update on the Landfill issue?

[GRUNT]

Haven't heard from Sandee in quite a while. Is she okay?

[RokNRich]

Any update on the Landfill issue?

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19149362&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Dec. 19 to allow NL Mineral Mountain LLC to develop the Silver Bar Mine Regional Landfill on a 449-acre parcel about 10 miles northeast of Florence, adjacent to the Florence Military Reservation.

:skull::skull::skull::skull::skull:

[1BLKJP]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19149362&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8



:skull::skull::skull::skull::skull:

Rich this isn't going to be necessarily a bad thing for us. The landfill site is not within view of the road and odds are they are going to be paving an additional few miles of the access road which helps us with dust issues. There are still somethings in the works that could turn out to be very beneficial to us in the future out in FJ.

[highjeeps]

Just because its not in view from Cottonwood Rd doesn't mean it won't negatively affect the area. I can imagine there will be wind blown trash all over the surrounding desert and foul smells, similar to the areas surrounding the Pima Indian Reservation Land Fill at Gilbert Rd and Hi. 87.

[RokNRich]

Rich this isn't going to be necessarily a bad thing for us. The landfill site is not within view of the road and odds are they are going to be paving an additional few miles of the access road which helps us with dust issues. There are still somethings in the works that could turn out to be very beneficial to us in the future out in FJ.


I disagree............see highjeeps post for where I'm coming from, not to mention the additional traffic, etc.

Something in the works ?? Do tell, I'm not gonna get excited over a staging area if that's what you're referring to though...........

[RokNRich]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19149362&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8






Any updates on this ?

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19149362&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68561&rfi=8




December 27, 2007

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Dec. 19 to allow NL Mineral Mountain LLC to develop the Silver Bar Mine Regional Landfill on a 449-acre parcel about 10 miles northeast of Florence, adjacent to the Florence Military Reservation.
In approving an industrial-use permit, the supervisors overturned a recommendation of the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Anyone heard anything ? I searched the newspaper and didn't come up with anything.

The AZOHV i website is woefully out of date on this issue. - http://www.azohv.org/docs/pinal-landfill-update.html
August 20, 2007

AZOHV original alert where the landfill is not supported:
http://www.azohv.org/docs/pinal-landfill-alert.html
July 17, 2007


Highlights of the July 17th Alert.
LANDFILL LOCATION: A private parcel completely surrounded by BLM land that contains ecological, historical, and cultural resources. The site is located 13 miles NE of Florence just south of Florence Junction, 6 miles east of SR 79 through the Planned Superstition Vistas, off Cottonwood Canyon Road.

IS THIS LANDFILL SITE IN YOUR BACK YARD? The answer should be a resounding YES by all Arizona residents.

WHY? Located in the Middle Gila Canyons Area, the Landfill will destroy hundreds of acres of Pristine Desert land, disturb and destroy animal habitats and methods of feeding, interfere with the many recreationists visiting the Middle Gila Canyon Area for hunting, camping, hiking, sightseeing, OHV riding, and driving for pleasure.

IS THIS NEW LANDFILL NEEDED? This answer is a resounding NO because Allied Waste's Cactus Waste Landfill and Waste Management's Butterfield Landfill have sufficient capacities to accommodate all the waste materials from Pinal, Pima, and Maricopa Counties and all the expected new population growth for a minimum of 100 years and probably longer.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? Both Waste companies are willing to build Transfer Stations at strategic locations near major populations. Waste material is compacted at a Transfer Station and trucked to the landfill every day. No Waste material remains overnight at a Transfer Station. This simple and easy solution to the disposition of our solid waste will save hundreds of acres of desert land as well as the recreation lands of the Middle Gila Conservation Area.v WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS OPEN HOUSE: Everyone who has an interest in the future of our State, County and Region and cares about the lands of our Country



:drummer:

[1BLKJP]

Rich, I'll have to refer this one to Sandee. I unfortunately had to miss the last meeting about it and I think Bonnie is mad at me because of it.