Robert Simmons, owner of Simmons Sanitation, did a presentation Tuesday, July 15, at the Cottonwood Community Hall at the request of Idaho County Commissioner Brad Higgins.
Higgins set up the meeting and it should have been advertised in the July 10 Chronicle but there was an email issue where it got missed by the Chronicle editor.
Through Facebook and flyers posted around town there were still about 30 people in attendance from the community.
Also in attendance were County Commissioner Ted Lindsley and an Idaho County assistant prosecutor.
Simmons proposed site would be located on the west side of Highway 95 and the south side of Cottonwood Butte Road. There would be an access road off of Cottonwood Butte Road and another access off of Business Loop 95 just past where you turn off Highway 95 into Cottonwood at the north entrance of town.
The original site proposal map that was in the Chronicle some time back showed access off of Jenny Street. Simmons said that was never really a consideration due to Jenny St. being a gravel road.
They are working with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to get a left turn bay off of Highway 95 northbound onto Cottonwood Butte Rd. For whatever reason, then the bypass was put in, the only northbound left turn bay entrance to Cottonwood is at the south entrance. Meanwhile, Craigmont, which was bypassed several years later than Cottonwood, has left turn bays at all three entrances to town.
Regulations that went into effect in 1992 pretty much ruled out the local landfills that were prevalent before then. Simmons said they are currently trucking waste to a landfill near Missoula. A backup site is the landfill near Payette. There is also one near Asotin but they are a small one and prefer not to take Idaho County’s waste. Plus they charge a lot more for any waste they take.
The plan with building this site is to eliminate the dumpsters currently located around Cottonwood. The site at the Greencreek 4-corners, the one near the sewer ponds, the one on Cottonwood Butte Road and the one at the gravel pit on the way to the high school would all go away.
When asked why this particular site, Simmons said due to the truck and the loads they carry they need paved road access. Other sites they looked at had gravel road access and wouldn’t handle the load weights. He said they also ran into the problem of once they told the seller what they were going to use it for, the seller pulled out of the deal.
They plan to do some landscaping to build up banking so the site is less visible from the roads and neighbors and also plan to add some trees to help mitigate the views.
Hours of operation would be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7 days a week.
Recycling would move to this site and you would be able to recycle items during the above listed hours.
Since it would be close to the cemeteries, the question was asked about noise during funerals. Simmons said they would put a halt to use during funerals. No truck backing and equipment would be shut down.
Would city residents be able to use the site? Yes.
How much time does it take to drop off a pickup load? It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. First pickup load per day would be at no cost. Any extra in the same day would be charged.
How many customers per day do you expect? Probably less than 100. Simmons said he likes to go high on estimates like that. Kamiah gets about 80 and the Kooskia site less than that for similar size population bases.
As to the concern about smell. Simmons said all sorting would be done inside of buildings and there should be minimal impact regarding smell. There would be no open dumpsters outside. He invited people to visit either their Kamiah or Kooskia site to check them out. They pride themselves on keeping the sites clean.
Questions were asked about weeds and rodents. Simmons said they plan to hire services that would take care of weeds and rodents.
They are hoping to start turning dirt within a couple of weeks. They have all their permits through the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The DEQ has a very extensive permitting process and it has taken years to get to this point.