Wednesday, 04/12/06

Bellevue landfill proposal shelved

Jim Pfeiffer's four-month fight against a proposed construction and demolition landfill two miles from his Bellevue home is over.

One of the project's co-sponsors, state Rep. Gary Moore, D-Joelton, backed off from supporting the bill that would have allowed for the landfill because he said he wanted to honor the wishes of his constituents, scores of whom have been adamantly against it.

The proposal called for overriding part of the state Scenic Rivers Act, a measure that protects Tennessee's 13 scenic rivers — including the Harpeth River — from landfills popping up in close proximity to them.

"I'm very pleased with our state representatives," said Pfeiffer, who has lived in Bellevue for 15 years. He said the proposed bill "weakened the existing state law. We don't need any more weak laws. The (Harpeth) river is already not good. You screw up water, and it's hard to undo."

The landfill would be at the site of a former Hutton stone quarry across from Hidden Lake, a part of the Harpeth River State Park. Because of the quarry's proximity to the stretch of the Harpeth River designated as scenic, construction of a landfill is prohibited by state law. It would take a state bill such as Moore's to change that.

"I have said from the beginning that I have philosophical problems with providing exceptions to the law," Moore said yesterday. "If we made this exception, someone else would come and want an exception."

At the end of March, Moore, other state representatives, the landfill developer, Harpeth River Watershed Association officials and about 300 residents talked about the proposal's pros and cons.

"At a public meeting we gave it a full and open debate," Moore said. "Residents in Bellevue were against it, so my decision (to withdraw the bill) was based on that."

The months-long debate caught the attention of Dorene Bolze, Harpeth River Watershed Association's executive director.

"Obviously, our organization was very concerned because of the potential to undermine the Scenic Rivers Act," she said. "Construction and demolition landfills have the minimal types of regulations. In theory, they're not supposed to handle hazardous materials, but in reality they do." •