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PLYMOUTH TWP. — Paul Keating hoped the site of the former landfill dubbed Mount Trashmore could be converted into something beneficial to the community which surrounds it.
Keating, administrator of the Municipality of Kingston, represented the municipality on the West Side Landfill Authority and was its chairman for about four years. He was confident the board could get the job done.
Unfortunately, earlier this year, during an effort to obtain a $12,500 loan to match state grant monies, municipal solicitor Harry Mattern told officials the authority, functioning since 1963, is no longer recognized under the dictates of Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act.
The authority had a statutory maximum of 50 years, making 2013 the last year it could legally operate.
This has left Keating in a quandary, wanting to move forward to clean up the site and make it useful to the communities surrounding it. There does not, however, seem to be the necessary support from surrounding municipalities to re-establish the landfill.
“Although we have significant support from those in Plymouth and Larksville,” Keating said, “some of the outlying municipalities don’t see the site as an ongoing issue.”
Twelve member municipalities range from Plymouth Township to West Wyoming, with some members seeing themselves as very much impacted by the issue and some relatively unfamiliar with it.
Colleen Connolly of the Department of Environmental Protection said the agency sent letters to nine participating municipalities this year, requesting they re-establish the authority which monitors and maintains 249 acres, 16.9 of which comprise the former landfill.
The authority is bound by a contract with DEP, entered into in 1994, to maintain the landfill for 30 years. That same authority is now powerless to honor that contract because the authority no longer legally exists.
Still both Keating and Connolly underscored Tuesday the importance of monitoring and maintaining the site, especially with many using the area to drive ATVs and for shooting practice.
“With literally hundreds of points of ingress and egress into the property,” said Keating, “it can be easily accessed.”
Both also would hope municipalities which formerly participated in the authority would pass ordinances approving participation in a West Side Landfill Authority, overseeing and maintaining the site.
Besides the site being a nuisance and safety hazard, Keating fears those who use it for recreational purposes could breach the “cap” of the former landfill which includes several layers of soil.
Keating’s hope is that in the future, the authority could be re-established and draw monies that would make it useful to the communities that surround it.
Even if the authority is resurrected, he said, he has concerns regarding its finances.
The area is under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania State Police, who Keating said simply doesn’t have the money or the manpower to oversee it.
“We only have about $5,000 in our treasury and that’s not enough to get done what we need to get done,” he said. “We would have to seek additional grant monies to maximize the potential of the land.”
“We set out to do a good thing,” he said. “My hope is that we can move forward.”