Family says ‘we’re not selling
Woman’s farm condemned by county for landfill
By DENNIS PFAFF
Of the Emerald
The scenario conjured up by
the current controversy over
Lane County’s selection of a new
sanitary landfill site is a
romantic one. The principal
actors include an 87-year-old
woman who has lived on the same
Lane County farm all her life and
members of the Lane County
government who want to turn her
land into a garbage dump.
Naomi Ayres is the woman who
currently owns the land near the
Willamette River which Lane
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County Commissioner Nancy
Hayward terms, “an almost ideal
place for a sanitary landfill.”
Hayward says that a two-year
study was “methodically carried
out” covering at least 25 possible
sites to replace the county’s
rapidly-filling Day Island Land
fill. The criteria used in the study
were: the site should be at least
100 acres in size, it should be
easily accessible to population
centers, it should be surrounded
by light industry, it should have
adequate soil to prevent leaching
of pollutants, it should not pose a
danger to domestic water sup
plies (such as wells) and it should
have at least 10 feet of soil cover
above the water table.
Hayward’s remark about the
Ayres property being “almost
ideal” stems from the fact that it
successfully fills each of the
criteria.
Hayward also said, "The land
is not being used, apparently
because it is not economically
feasible to do so.”
AYRES HERSELF IS very
deaf, and so was not available for
comment. However, her grand
daughter, Mrs. Clarence Gerhke,
said, “The land is being used.
There are the remains of a
walnut orchard, fifteen acres of
filbert trees, a small cherry
orchard, 20-25 acres of alfalfa,
about 25 acres of row crops and
the rest is being used to graze
about 40 head of cattle and
horses.” She said that many of
the trees were damaged in the
freezing weather a year ago, but,
“the land itself is still very fertile
and productive, and it’s one of the
most beautiful pieces of property
you’ll ever see.”
The three county com
missioners, Hayward, Ken Omlid
and Frank Eliott, voted 2-1
recently to proceed with con
demnation of the property after
Ayres refused to voluntarily sell.
Eliott explains his lone dissenting
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Ayres’ farm with crops, orchards of walnut, cherry
and filbert trees and stock is the proposed site for
Lane County’s next landfill. In a two-one vote
Photo by Monica Haag
county commissioners decided to condemn what
Naomi Ayres’ granddaughter calls “one of the most
beautiful pieces of property you’ll ever see.”
vote this way, “I think it’s wrong
to go out and condemn a piece of
property in this amount. The
technology we have today shows
us how to stop the practice of
burying garbage. The heat value
in it is too great to lose in this
way.”
All of the commissioners agree
that incineration of Lane
County’s solid waste for the
generation of power would be the
best method of disposing of it.
However, Omlid and Hayward
contend that a sanitary landfill
would still be needed to dispose of
the ash from such an incineration
plant and to get rid of un
salvageable waste such as
concrete and bricks. Omlid says,
“Thirty to forty per cent of the
garbage we now bury would still
have to be buried.”
ELIOTT AGREES yet says
that an alternative site, known as
the Golden Gardens gravel pit,
could be used for this purpose.
Omlid calls Eliott’s proposal
“ridiculous.” He says, “Much of
the water for the entire Eugene
area drains right through the
Golden Gardens site,” adding
“we don’t know yet if the ash
from an incineration plant would
pose a danger to the water supply
or not.”
The Ayres site lies adjacent to
the Willamette river. The
Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) has urged com
munities to locate sanitary
landfills close to running water,
so that any possible leachate
could be diluted before it reached
the domestic water supply.
As an alternative to the Ayres
property, the commissioners are
trying to get a site known as Mt.
Pisgah. However, that site was
purchased by the Federal Bureau
of Recreation and is now being
leased to Lane County for future
development as a park. Federal
regulations stipulate that no land
purchased with federal money
may be used as a landfill. The
county is attempting to procure a
variance on this regulation,
however Hayward speculates
that the necessary procedures
might take a year to complete.
Yet a new site is needed by June
of this year.
IF THE AYRES SITE is
condemned and turned into a
sanitary landfill, the county
would pay Ayres for the land. No
figure has been officially men
tioned, but Gerhke says, “It
would probably be around
$250,000. However, we haven’t
negotiated on the price and at this
point, we’re not selling.”
OSPIRG may become involved
in the controversy soon. No of
ficial word has been received on
what the OSPIRG proposal would
be, however.
The Ayres property is zoned for
agricultural use only. Thus, the
next step to be taken is that of
obtaining a conditional use
permit from the Lane County
Planning Commission to use the
land as a garbage dump.
Will the University try recycling?
A committee established under the direction of
President Robert Clark met Friday at Johnson Hall
to discuss the possibilities of converting the
University’s solid waste disposal program to a
recycling system. Under the present system the
University is the single largest contributor of solid
waste in Lane county.
The committee also looked into the problems of
transportation, storage, financing and current
recycling operations.
The Resource Recovery program, under the
direction of Jeff Detlefsen, was set up last spring to
find an alternate system of solid waste disposal
through recycling. Since then the program has
expanded from the Hamilton dorm complex to
cover the Carson Hall cafeteria and the EMU. Since
the start of this operation, 70 per cent less solid
waste has been takqp to the dump. This is done by
simple sorting of cardboard, bottles, tin cans, and
plastics.
Project Intercept is another campus operation
that has proven the feasibility of recycling. There
are 110 Intercept barrels placed throughout the
campus for recyclable paper. Although currently
funded by the University, Intercept is well on the
way to becoming self-sufficient Terry Esvelt of the
Survival Center reported.
A recent survey conducted by Detlefsen’s
search class on recycling revealed a substantial
interest in recycling. From a cross sampling of the
campus and Eugene community, Oetlefsen’s
students revealed that 98 per cent felt there is a
need for a community wide recycling system and 84
per cent felt there was too little emphasis placed on
recycling. When asked if they would be willing to
finance a recycling program by paying two to four
dollars more in taxes or school fees, 65 per cent
agreed they would.
Speaking at the Friday meeting, Detlefsen
stated that the University has a responsibility to
lead the way by recycling its solid waste. By setting
up a successful waste disposal system based on
recycling, Detlefsen pointed out, the University
could serve as a rational model for future system.
Those interested in recycling may contact Jeff
Detlefsen of the Environmental Studies Center,
room 111 of the EMU, in the mezzanine.