The San Jose Planning Commission next Wednesday is expected to review a delayed odor study tied to a requested vertical expansion of the Newby Island Landfill and Resource Recovery Park, on the San Jose-Milpitas border.
On Oct. 26, at the request of landfill operator Republic Services, the commission voted 4-0 to defer the item to early December to allow more time to analyze the third-party odor study of the landfill — the place where many including City of Milpitas and area residents believe odor originates and detrimentally impacts this city — and to reconvene in front of a full planning panel.
The final odor study as well as the ongoing community debate regarding the dump’s planned expansion stem in part from an appeal Milpitas filed in 2014 of San Jose Planning Department’s approval of a permit allowing the landfill to grow by 95 vertical feet. Under that proposal, Republic Services of Santa Clara County plans to increase the capacity of its landfill by approximately 15.12 million cubic yards and extend its estimated closure date until January 2041. The landfill’s current closure date is 2025.
If the dump’s expansion is approved as recommended by San Jose planning staff, the commission could deny Milpitas’ appeal to prevent the vertical expansion of the dump at its 352 gross acre site at 1601 Dixon Landing Road.
Previously, Cheryl Wessling, a spokeswoman for San Jose’s planning department, told this newspaper the odor report — prepared by Irvine-based Environmental Resources Management for nearly $162,000 — would enable that city’s planning commission to have additional facts regarding the level of detectable odor generated by the landfill, which is the subject of the permit before them.
She added the study analyzed potential odors only at the Newby Island Resource Recovery Park.
“It did not analyze the whole slate of the 10 potential odor-generating areas identified in the South Bay Odor Stakeholders Group, which includes the wastewater facility drying beds, Zanker recycling facilities, the salt ponds, etc.,” Wessling said previously. “This is important for people to understand — there are many odor sources besides that of what’s happening at Newby Island.”
At Newby Island, she said the odor study looked at six “process areas” and whether those are generating “detectable” odors in five receptor areas. Wessling added that according to the study’s key finding it is the landfill’s commercial waste processing center — the Material Recovery Facility — that sees 45 days per year of potential odor complaints and not the landfill working face, which she says sees 1.5 days per year of potential odor complaints and generating the unpleasant odor sensed in Milpitas.
She said San Jose’s recommendation is to deny the appeal by Milpitas and uphold the San Jose Planning Director’s Oct. 1, 2014 decision to approve the permit to increase the height of the landfill with several conditions on that permit.
Meanwhile, the meeting over the future of Newby Island Landfill follows Milpitas City Council’s formal jettisoning of this city’s 30-year waste hauling contract with Republic Services in favor of two other vendors — Santa Clara-based Garden City Sanitation Inc. (which will collect the city’s waste) and Houston-based Waste Management Inc. (which will dispose the city’s garbage) in South San Jose. Both firms are expected to begin hauling Milpitas’ solid waste in September 2017.
San Jose’s planning commission meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 inside San Jose City Hall’s Council Chambers, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose.
