Lunenburg Officials Hold Landfill Discussion

LUNENBURG – Lunenburg County officials held a joint public hearing last week as the planning commission and board of supervisors heard public comments on alterations to the conditional use permit that the county currently has with Container First Services (CFS) and their parent company.

Several Lunenburg residents spoke during the meeting with most expressing concerns about safety or issues that CFS had at their Petersburg landfill location. Some of the issues at the Petersburg facility reportedly were regarding waste pile heights and coverage of the trash. The landfill company is seeking to increase the height of the cells at the landfill as well as increase the tonnage amounts allowed per day.

During the meeting CFS President Rob Guidry spoke to citizens about his company and offered assurances about the changes to the conditional use permit. He stated, “I understand it is a very emotional subject for some.”

He noted that Lunenburg County officials and Lunenburg County Attorney Frank Rennie had done an extremely thorough job in putting together all the stipulations outlined for CFS to follow in Lunenburg. He noted that his company has already invested millions in upgrading the facilities, improving the location, adding paved areas and adding additional revenue to Lunenburg County.

Guidry stated, “We have invested several millions and there will be millions more invested.”
He also talked about the height increase request and noted that this was in part to help the old area of the landfill previously run by the county in complying with DEQ regulations. He noted that CFS had improved and gotten the previous cell owned by Lunenburg in compliance while also working on the new areas.  Guidry also noted that some people had expressed concerns that his company may sell to another business, but he stated, “If I was going to sell, I would have done it a long time ago.”

County Attorney Frank Rennie also addressed the public. He talked about the work done on this original document and that the changes to the CUP has been an ongoing year-long discussion with CFS to ensure that Lunenburg was properly protected. He noted that the permit has restrictions on noise, dust, debris, and litter control, waste that is not permitted at the landfill and that the waste must be covered daily. In addition to that, Lunenburg has a landfill liaison that watches the daily operations for Lunenburg.

He also noted that the financial impact on Lunenburg has been huge. The changes to the permit would also see an increase in the payment per ton to Lunenburg from $1.14 to $2 and could increase to $2.50. He said that there could be an increase of 200% to the county as well as a $100,000 payment that would go toward road improvement.

Mr. Rennie explained that Lunenburg is able to bring their county trash to the landfill for free and the overall revenue has helped the county with budget issues and allowed them to have the lowest tax rates in the state of Virginia.

Several citizens, including Ronnie Williams spoke at the public hearing about safety concerns with possible increased traffic. He said that he understood the county needed the money generated from the landfill, but wanted intersections and areas along roads such as Hardy Road to be fixed and made safe.

Other citizens expressed concerns about the Petersburg issues such as Trudy Berry while Deborah Gibbs said that she was concerned with issues such as birds around the property. 

Following the public hearing the planning commission members decided they would table any recommendations as they looked over some of the concerns. Buck Tharpe did speak about his thoughts as a representative of the commission and noted that the county has a good liaison and good conditional use permit as well as a strong host agreement that was carefully designed to safeguard Lunenburg.

Tharpe said that a huge benefit of the financial impact CFS is having on Lunenburg is county officials have been able to avoid huge tax increases like other areas have needed. He stated, “Lunenburg landfill is not Petersburg landfill.”