closed landfills

[Laurie Kadrich]

Good Afternoon Reagan,

Here is a partial response to your questions - we are hoping our health department will be able to weigh in on some answers as well.  Our Solid Waste Department was able to provide information regarding the locations of closed landfill, etc.  Please see below:

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• Wellington Transfer Station - The Wellington Convenience Center is located at the northeast corner of a 54 acre parcel of land that is owned by Larimer County (see attached map).  The Larimer County Road and Bridge Department used to operate a sand and gravel quarry on this property, and the old quarry pit was used as a dump site. 
• Fort Collins - The City of Fort Collins operated a city dump at the northeast corner of College Avenue and Willow Street, along the south bank of the Cache la Poudre River.  The city closed the site in the early 1960's and subsequently built the Northside Aztlan Community Center on top of the old dump.
• Harmony Road Dump, Fort Collins - In 1950, Larimer County purchased a plot of land at the southwest corner of Section 34, Township 7N, Range 69W, which is at the northeast corner of the old tee intersection of Harmony Road and South Taft Hill Road (see attached map).  Larimer County operated a dump at this location until the early 1960's.  An environmental investigation of the site was completed in 1983, and the old dump was subsequently capped. 
• Loveland - The City of Loveland operated a dump/landfill at the northeast corner of Taft Avenue and 1st Street, along the south bank of the Big Thompson River.  The dump was closed in the early 1970's and the city built the Centennial Park and ball fields complex on top of the old dump.  
• Estes Park - Elm Road Landfill (a.k.a. Estes Park Sanitary Landfill) is located at 640 Elm Road, adjacent to the Estes Park Transfer Station which is located at 680 Elm Road.  Circa 1900 the site was first used as a dump by the Stanley Hotel, then ownership was deeded to the Town of Estes Park.  The town and its contractors operated the landfill through 1974, then Larimer County operated the facility from 1975 until the transfer station was opened in September 1984.  Larimer County completed closure of the facility in June 1986 with construction of a clay cap and installation of groundwater monitoring wells and methane vents.  The Town of Estes Park was originally responsible for post-closure monitoring, but I don't know if it is currently being monitored.  The Town of Estes of Park implemented Environmental Use Restrictions for the property in June 2021. 

Please reach out if you need anything further, laurie

	Laurie M. Kadrich Assistant County Manager
	Community Planning, Infrastructure and Resources 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, 80521 | 3rd Floor W: (970) 498-5741 | M: (970) 589-0674 Kadr...@co.larimer.co.us | www.larimer.org

[Reagan Shane]

Thank you all! This is incredibly helpful.

 

Reagan

 

Reagan Shane

Legislative & Policy Advocate

Colorado Counties, Inc.

303.859.9288 (c)

[Reagan Shane]

Laurie (et. al.),

 

I’ve been pulling this info into more of a fact sheet to share with Ginal, and it’s prompting two follow-up questions. In essence, I’m trying to think through how these closed landfills would relate to the bill draft and background. Any information you could provide on the below – even guesses – would be helpful if you have it! Not sure if it would’ve come up in the process of collecting this info.

 

First, does CDPHE have any monitoring/investigation involvement in these landfills? CDPHE has said that out of the approx. 100 closed local-government-owned landfills, they’re only actively involved in 35, so it wouldn’t surprise me if not. In essence, this would determine whether the CDPHE enforcement order and penalty threat is currently relevant to these landfills.

 

Second, part of the background of the bill is that there are lots of landfills that closed in the 1990s, before environmental engineering was required and in compliance with standards at the time. Those landfills were encouraged to close and certified as closed by the state, recognizing that new regulations requiring environmental engineering would be extremely expensive at those old landfills. Is there a possibility that these landfills could face future remediation needs? For example, if we discovered a new emerging contaminant that happened to be present in the landfills located on river banks, is it possible that contaminant could leak into the rivers, or is there potential for structural problems (this latter example is happening with an Arapahoe/Douglas landfill located on a slope)? Or is there something about the nature of the ways these were closed and, in some cases, the ways they were built upon that makes such risks more unlikely?

 

Again, trying to predict what questions Sen. Ginal might have about how much the grant program or enforcement concerns might impact Larimer’s landfills specifically.

 

Thanks!

Reagan

 

Reagan Shane

Legislative & Policy Advocate

Colorado Counties, Inc.

303.859.9288 (c)

 

From: Laurie Kadrich <kadr...@co.larimer.co.us>
Sent: Wednesday, March 1, 2023 4:45 PM
To: Reagan Shane <rsh...@ccionline.org>; Michelle Bird <bir...@co.larimer.co.us>; Jody Shadduck-McNally <shad...@co.larimer.co.us>; John Kefalas <kefa...@co.larimer.co.us>; Kristin Stephens <step...@co.larimer.co.us>; Lorenda Volker <vol...@co.larimer.co.us>
Subject: closed landfills

 

Good Afternoon Reagan,

[Laurie Kadrich]

Reagan,

Our team is only overseeing the current County landfill and it is already being regulated by CDPHE for ground/surface water contamination - once we close the landfill 2-3 years from now we will be regulated for at least 30 years on our current remediation efforts.  And, yes, I believe we will be required to do additional remediation even though the landfill is closed and is generating no revenues - PFAs come to mind - I believe our health department is overseeing some of the regulations tied to the other closed landfills in the County - and will need to defer to them for any other comments.

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