Gude Landfill
Concerned Citizens
(GLCC)
development notes
Update May 31, 2009
County Executive Ike Leggett has committed to stop the development of
the Gude Landfill for bus parking. Cost and environmental
issues drove this decision. As a part of the the discussion the GLCC
has tentatively agreed to a County DEP plan to
delineate the leakage from the dump (see documents - Statement Of Work)
and we will be meeting with them from regularly
as this plan is finalized and implemented. We are also pushing for a
cessation in development at the Commercial Yard Waste Transfer
Pad as the plant runoff would be extensive.
--------------------------------------------
Update Jan 24, 2009
The County Council hearings on the evening of Jan. 22 went well, with
about 40 neighborhood supporters for the three persons from the GLCC
making comments. Keith Ligon, Julia Tillery, and Bob Day explained the
GLCC arguments against the relocation of the school buses to the Gude
Landfill. Council is becoming aware of the pollution issues, the
density of buses and the construction costs. Notes on the meeting will
be posted as they become available.
There is a followup Council meeting on Jan. 29th when development funds
will be discussed and voted on.
--------------------------------------------
Update Jan. 8, 2009
The GLCC committee hosted a neighborhood meeting at Candlewood ES,
presenting our information
to about 55 homeowners in an open forum. Keith Ligon gave a background
summary including discussions with
the County's officials. Dean Dozier spoke from a regulatory position
and as a former landfill
inspector about the level of contaminants in and around the landfill
and the likely effects
construction on the site would have in increasing their emissions.
Laszlo Harsanyi, from DS2
gave also talked on the effects of the bus depot.
The County's next step is a meeting on Jan. 22nd where approval will
be sought for funding for an engineering study concerning the
Gude Landfill proposed development. The nature of the study will
have a strong influence on the decisions made about the dump. Our
position is that an existing study has been done (see Gude Landfill
Docs above) reaching the conclusion that the dump was the wrong place
for the bus depot -- for cost, technical difficulty and safety reasons.
The information we have compiled supports this position, and the GLCC
urges the county to select an alternate site.
Names were collected for adding to the Gude Landfill
email list
which will become the distribution forum for GLCC news. Residents
were urged to start sending letters and emails to county officials. See
TBD for information.
--------------------------------------------
Update Dec. 9, 2008
The GLCC group has been talking with county representatives and
gathering county data and proposing alternative sites to the
development heads, David Dise and Dianne Schwartz-Jones who both work
for County Supervisor Ike Leggett. So far no change, but we continue to
press on.
The current presentation is above, as a link on the GLCC Presentation
button.
There are safety, pollution, environmental, community nearness,
landfill settling, access routes, vehicle traffic and other issues
wrong with the site. The latest issues are about money. The county is
short up to $400 Million over the net couple of years, and county
estimates are that moving the bus parking will be in the order of $55
Million for all changes. This alone may stop the project, or delay it
depending on county growth forces.
We expect to announce community meetings in January to discuss the
relevent issues and plans for political action.
Keith Ligon has assumed the chair of the GLCC, and is especially the
contact point for county officials. Anyone interested in working with
the GLCC please send an email to:
GLCC (at) hollybrooke.org
Nick Radonic
--------------------------------------------
Updated Oct. 10, 2008
Join
the GLCC / Hollybrooke Gude Landfill Development email list
The GLCC and school bus parking:
A small ad hoc committee called the Gude Landfill Concerned
Citizen's
committee has been set up by residents in the three Derwood
Station and Hollybrooke home owner associations. Our aim is to pursue
discussions with county officials to investigate and stop, or at least
to influence the proposed relocation of the 350 school bus parking lot
from Crabb's Branch to the Gude Landfill.
The initial position of the GLCC is that representations have been made
since before the development of this community that the Gude
Landfill would eventually be developed into parkland. One of the stated
positions from County officials is that the property is not stable
enough to be
parkland but at the same time they want to put in a bus parking lot and
refueling station. These plans are problematic given the shifting
nature
of of the landfill surface.
The GLCC has met with County officials several times, including one
public forum at the Waste Transfer Station, and has been investigating
alternative bus depot sites to propose to the county Parks and
Planning, and investigating the issues around using the Gude Landfill
operation. In addition we have been monitoring the County Council
activities and meeting plans for the county development process, and
are actively attending and making comments and asking questions.
Currently the bus depot plans for Gude Landfill are in the initial
stages but some early County Council meetings are coming up on Oct.
23rd, at which time decisions may be made to start the development. The
current estimate is that if development were to go ahead it would be
done by 2010, so there is not a lot of time to influence the process.
--------------------------------------------
A meeting with County officials responsible for the development
plans on Crabbs Branch. There was a large turn out of neighborhood
residents, and we were introduced to the plans the county had
formulated to move the MCPS parking and service center to the Gude
Landfill.
--------------------------------------------
The Gude Landfill:
The Gude Landfill operated from 1962-1982. It is
about 100 acres in size, and 50-100 feet deep. It is triangular in
shape, located adjacent to the gas pipeline right-of-way and directly
across from our Hollybrooke neighborhoods. The dump is an older type
lacking plastic cap or bottom sheets, and the finished site is covered
with about 2 feet of soil, which is graded periodically as the dump
settles. The only use of the site is a model airplane runway for
electric model aircraft, and a commercial yard waste transfer pad on
the non-filled portion of the site. There is some heavy industry along
the eastern and south eastern edges, and the Gude Men's shelter is just
off site as well.
Ongoing monitoring of the landfill is being done by the Montgomery
County Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Solid
Waste Services. A network of pipelines and wells have been
installed to evacuate internally generated breakdown gasses, primarily
methane and carbon dioxide. These are flared off to eliminate odour and
reduce the possibility of an underground fire. The flare towers are
located at a service facility at the south-western corner of the
property beside the Gude Men's Shelter. Previously a 3 MW generator was
housed there to recover electrical energy. After it reached the end of
it's service life it was removed because a reduced gas flow rendered it
uneconomical. A smaller 800 KW replacement generator is being planned
for the near future now that electricity prices have climbed.
The flares are slightly more efficient at eliminating combustible gas
content, but the engine allows for recapture of energy as electricity
with a payoff of several years.
Google Earth view of landfill butting right up against our neighborhood.