Lower Windsor Twp. holding special meeting Tuesday on proposed Modern Landfill expansion
Holly Kelly and her family have lived in their Lower Windsor Township home for less than a year, but they're already questioning whether they'll be able to stay there indefinitely.
The Old Farm Lane house sits near the western boundary of a proposed expansion of Modern Landfill.
"To know it’s going to back right up, probably, to our backyard is very heartbreaking," she said.
Most of Modern Landfill, owned by Arizona-based Republic Services, is in Windsor Township, but the company is planning an eastward expansion within a stretch of land covering about one square mile between East Prospect Road to the north, Gun Club Road to the south, Mount Pisgah Road to the east and Barcroft Road to the west.
Old Farm Lane connects to Barcroft Road and sits within the expansion boundary.
The Lower Windsor Township Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, to discuss the township's host agreement with Modern Landfill and answer questions from residents.
About 60 people attended the last board meeting Dec. 12, when the board initially planned to vote on the agreement.
Several people who live near the proposed expansion asked the board to table the vote so they could learn more about the proposal.
Their concerns included the loss of the agricultural landscape in the proposed expansion area, environmental damage and a potential decline in property values.
Kelly said residents have been organizing to alert their neighbors about the landfill proposal. She added that one of the most disappointing aspects of the situation has been the lack of transparency from the township.
"Nobody was really aware of exactly what was happening, other than rumors," she said. "It just seems very shady."
The new agreement would guarantee monetary benefits and other perks to the township valued at $2.1 million a year, an increase from the current $1.2 million agreement, but it would also preclude the township from opposing the landfill's eastward expansion.
Tim O'Donnell, the landfill's general manager, will be at Tuesday's meeting to answer questions from residents.
"We’ll be as specific as we can be, recognizing that it’s early in the process," O'Donnell said.
The earliest the expanded landfill area would be used is 2025, O'Donnell said at the last meeting.
More:Lower Windsor Twp. residents resist Modern Landfill expansion