A group of rural Adams County landowners has notched a victory of sorts in a year-long battle against a landfill operating near their backyards.
Adams County officials and the operator of the 165-acre dump site — Alpine Water & Recycling — have agreed to a series of public hearings over what’s being deposited there.
The hearings will probably be held this spring.
“We’re happy we stalled the landfill, but we’re still skeptical whether Adams County commissioners will give us a fair shake,” said Leslie Gerbracht, who lives close to the landfill.
Gerbracht and about 40 landowners formed the Association of Homeowners for Open Accountable Government and filed a lawsuit in November 2007, claiming public hearings should have been held when the county changed the zoning for the landfill.
The dump site, near Bennett on Schumaker Road close to East 88th Avenue, was originally zoned to receive coal ash, which translates to only a few trucks a day.
But the nearby landowners did not know that county planners in 2005 gave permission to truck in household waste, hiking the number of trips into the landfill.
The county argued the zoning amendment was a minor change and did not require a public hearing. The state disagreed, saying the application involved a significant change.
Adams County and Alpine challenged the lawsuit last year, but a district judge ruled it was valid.
Toward the end of 2008, the county and Alpine agreed to hold the public hearings to decide whether the change in zoning should be allowed. The hearings will result in the residents’ lawsuit being dismissed, said county attorney Hal Warren.
“We can’t predict what the outcome of the hearings will be, but there will be a process,” Warren said Wednesday.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
