Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee Met Feb. 4

By Angelica Saylo Pilo

Apr 26, 2021

Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee Met Feb. 4.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee

Committee Members

Present

Absent

Aaron Esry (Vice-Chair)

Stephanie Fortado

Mary King

Kyle Patterson

Jacob Paul

Chris Stohr

Eric Thorsland (Chair)

County Staff: John Hall (Zoning Administrator), Susan Monte (Planner), and Mary Ward (Recording Secretary) Others Present: None

MINUTES

I. Call to Order

Committee Chair Thorsland called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

II. Roll Call

A verbal roll call was taken, and a quorum was declared present.

III. Approval of Agenda/Addendum

MOTION by Ms. King to approve the agenda, seconded by Ms. Fortado.

Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously to approve the Agenda.

IV. Approval of Minutes

A. January 7, 2021

B. Closed Session Minutes of August 6, 2020

MOTION by Mr. Esry to approve the minutes of the January 7, 2021 meeting, seconded by Mr. Stohr. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

MOTION by Mr. Esry to approve the Closed Session minutes of August 6, 2020. Seconded by Ms. Fortado. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

V. Public Participation

None

VI. Communications

There were no communications to be shared with the committee.

VII. New Business: For Information Only

A. Champaign County Solid Waste Management – Information Series (Part 2 of 5)

Ms. Monte presented the second of five review sessions on Champaign County Solid Waste Management. The purpose of the series is to provide a better understanding of what solid waste management/planning has occurred at the county and the extent to which Champaign County presently is involved in solid waste management. During 2021 work to complete the next 5-year update to the Champaign County Solid Waste Management Plan will take place. Hopefully, that update will include some suggested improvements to the Plan. This review can assist in preparing for a review of the update. Any input that the committee may want to provide before the update review process will be valuable.

Topics to be covered include: infrastructure: landfills, transfer stations, etc.; the Champaign County Regional Pollution Control Facility Siting Procedures ordinance; estimating waste generation and landfill diversion, and the Champaign County waste hauler license fee.

In the early 1980’s there were hundreds of small dumps and landfills in Illinois and few recycling opportunities. One estimate is that approximately 90% of discarded materials were landfilled. (More recently, in 2017, it’s estimated that 52% of solid waste generated in the U.S. was disposed of in landfills.) In the 1980’s, Illinois had no state-level approach to managing solid waste. Ms. Monte went over landfill history in Champaign and Urbana. To Ms. Monte’s knowledge, there is post-closure monitoring ongoing at eight “basins” that comprise three former landfill sites within the Champaign Urbana city limits. One of the biggest challenges is controlling leachate leaks, which can be very costly to address.

Ms. Monte discussed the Illinois waste management hierarchy. Landfills are at the bottom as the least desirable method of managing solid waste materials. The IEPA has not updated this hierarchy in recent years. Other waste management hierarchies recognize ‘legacy landfills’ as an unregulated type of landfill as a least preferred management option.

The trend is that the number of landfills is decreasing over time. There are three standard landfill types: Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste and Hazardous Waste. Ms. Monte shared a graphic available from the Illinois State Geological Survey and provided by Mr. Stohr showing where legacy landfills are located in Illinois.

IEPA Region 4, which includes Champaign County, is now down to six operational landfills with a life expectancy of 28 years. Landfilling is the most dominate but least desirable management method. In Illinois, although the number of landfills is decreasing, the total capacity is increasing because existing landfills are expanding.

Graphics were shared of the Mahomet Aquifer and where operational landfills and legacy landfills are situated over the Aquifer. Landfills are the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Based on statewide data estimates, a waste generation rate for our region shows that each person generates 7.1 pounds of municipal solid waste per day. These are hard numbers to track as they don’t consider composting and recycling activities. An ongoing challenge for counties is to track waste generation, recycling and composting activities. Municipal solid waste disposal rates are the easiest to track with recycling rates being the most difficult to track.

The Champaign County Regional Pollution Control Facility Siting Procedures Ordinance may need to be updated. It should be looked at every 5 to 10 years. A list of transfer stations is included in the memo in the ELUC packet. More transfer stations are the current trend, and inquiries have been made about establishing a transfer station in Rantoul and one north of Urbana. These would benefit local waste haulers and make their operations less costly.

The Champaign County Waste Hauler License Fee was recently reviewed and corrected and made more equitable. It generates some income to the Solid Waste Fund for the County. Ms. Monte would recommend looking at this again and updating to require some basic reporting by local haulers as many other counties do.

B. Online Registration Opens March 8, 2021 for IEPA One-Day Household Hazardous Waste Collection

This information is provided as advance notice of the media release to be distributed in mid-February and opens on March 8.

C. Public Review and Comment for Proposed Federally Enforceable State Operating Permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to Regulate Air Emissions for Beauty Quest Group Facility at 205 Shellhouse Drive, Rantoul

This is just for the committee’s information. The Beauty Quest Group is the former Conair facility. We are not required to do anything about the proposed permit.

VIII. New Business: Items to be Recommended to the County Board

A. Resolution Authorizing Brookfield Properties and Champaign County Event Agreement for IEPA One-Day Household Hazardous Waste Collection on April 10, 2021

This is one of the agreements for the three community collection events this year. This is the lease agreement for Market Place Shopping Center. The plan is to have use of an expansive parking lot North and East of J.C. Penney. There is a cost that is shared between the County and the three municipalities listed.

Mr. Stohr asked a question to clarify if it was at Market Place and not at Parkland. Parkland will not host the Household Hazardous Waste Collections. Mr. Stohr also asked what roll the Champaign County Environmental Stewards have in this. They were formed as a non-profit to have an awareness campaign about the need to have improved options for the collection of household hazardous waste, e-waste, etc. The systems we have now are not convenient and not the most efficient use of our resources. One of the interests of that non-profit is to explore having a Regional Household Hazardous Collection Facility here in Champaign County.

MOTION by Mr. Esry and seconded by Ms. Fortado to approve the motion as read. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.

B. Resolution Approving an Agreement between the County of Champaign, Parkland College and A-Team Recyclers with regard to the Residential Electronics Collections on May 21-22, 2021 and October 15-16, 2021.

MOTION by Ms. King and seconded by Mr. Stohr to approve the motion as read.

Discussion followed. Ms. Monte said the agreement is designed to be flexible to expand to meet demand to expand from one to two days. Since we’re still in the pandemic, many people seem to be cleaning and getting rid of e-waste, TV’s and such. We also cannot have as many community service workers as we’ve had in the past.