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Case File: CU 09-12 ERL CUP <br />Page 2 City of Elk River <br />Location Existing Land Use Land Use Plan <br />Designation Current <br />Zoning <br />Property in <br />Question Mineral Excavation Mining Al (ME) <br />North Existing Landfill Landfill A1(ME) (SWF) <br />South Mineral Excavation Mining Al (ME) <br />East Highway 169/Agriculture Commercial Reserve CRT/(ME) <br />West Undeveloped/Residential Rural Residential Al <br />Introduction <br />Elk River Landfill, Inc. (Landfill) is requesting a Land Use Amendment and Zone Change to expand <br />the Landfill into 109 acres of property located immediately south of the existing landfill property <br />referred to as the Southern Development Area (SDA). The Conditional Use Permit and License fox <br />the expansion will be considered at a future meeting. This proposal would allow for the <br />development of additional landfill space on 8.6 acres on the southern most portions of the existing <br />landfill property and on 60.2 acres extending into the 109-acre parcel owned by Tiller Corporation <br />and located immediately to the south of the existing landfill property. This property is currently <br />being mined. Tiller's entire 109-acres parcel would be rezoned from Mining to Landfill and rezoned <br />from AI (ME) to Al (ME) (SWF). As in past landfill operations, the landfill would follow behind <br />the gravel mining. The proposal consists of approximately 69 additional acres of lined mixed solid <br />waste (MSW). This expansion would allow fox approximately 13,600,000 cubic yards of additional <br />MSW capacity, extending the life of the facility to 2033. <br />Executive Summary <br />The Landfill was first approved to operate in 1971 by the Sherburne County Board of <br />Commissioners. In 1972, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (NIPCA) required the forty-acre <br />operation to have a permit, SW -74. Concerned with groundwater contamination from the original <br />cell, the City of Elk River drafted its first solid waste ordinance in 1986 to better regulate waste <br />facilities. Solid Waste Facility (SWF) uses were allowed under the new ordinance providing they had <br />the proper land use designation and zoning, a conditional use permit and a license. Although <br />grandfathered in, the Landfill voluntarily complied with this ordinance in 1988. Now the City had <br />legal say in regulating future activities at the site and how clean up from the original cells would be <br />conducted. In 1989, the Landfill expanded the demolition debris area. In 1991 remedial <br />investigations related to contaminate leaving the site were initiated. The Landfill requested financial <br />assistance from the County and City to build an active gas venting system in 1994. This type of <br />system removes unsafe build-up of methane gas and the gas extraction pulls volatile organic <br />compounds (VOCs) from the groundwater and generates electricity. <br />S:\PLANNING MAIN\Case Files\CUP\CU 09-12 Elk River Landfill Inc\Staff report to PC-CU 09-12.doc <br />