OLD TOWN, Maine — The operator of a local landfill is offering the city a 266-acre conservation easement to offset its displacing about two acres of wetlands and vernal pools as part of a major expansion of the waste disposal area.
Mitigating the effects on wetlands and vernal pools is a required part of the plan to double the capacity of Juniper Ridge Landfill, and Casella Waste Systems is prepared to create a conservation easement near the landfill, officials say.
“They want to give a 266-acre ‘forever wild easement’ to the city but they hold title to the land,” City Manager Bill Mayo said in a Tuesday email. “It is on the north side of the landfill and would guarantee no development.”
Casella Waste Systems, the company hired to operate the state-owned landfill, filed an expansion application with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year to add 9.35 million cubic yards to the landfill’s existing permitted 10 million cubic yards.
Casella and the state received partial approval from Maine’s DEP in January 2012 to pursue the expansion and are undergoing a lengthy DEP review that will include public meetings, hearings and a public comment period, before going to the federal government and back to the city of Old Town for approval.
Don Meagher, manager of planning and development for Casella, and Bryan Emerson, a wetland scientist for Stantec Consulting, gave a presentation to the city last week about the wetland mitigation plan. The proposed Juniper Ridge expansion would affect about two acres of wetlands and vernal pools at the landfill located near Exit 199 on Interstate 95, Meagher said.
“Those are going to be displaced,” he said. “The compensation that we have proposed is on-site preservation.”
The typical ratio for wetland mitigation is 1-to-15, so with every acre affected, 15 acres are set aside elsewhere. For vernal pools, the radius of the pool is measured for the mitigation.
“The amount of protected area that we are proposing is far in excess of what would be required,” Meagher said. “We’re protecting a lot here.”
Old Town City Council members are reviewing the information presented and “Stantec is going to send a draft easement over in the next couple weeks for the council to review,” Mayo said.
Development of the land would be banned but passive use for activities like hunting, walking, hiking or cross-country skiing would be allowed, Meagher said.
“It’s an asset for the city,” he said.