Operators of the Newby Island Landfill want the dump to be able to grow taller to accommodate more solid waste to meet its contract obligations with municipalities.
City of San Jose is preparing a draft environmental impact report for a potential increase to the maximum height of the landfill at the Milpitas-San Jose border. Since December, San Jose officials have been compiling information for the rezone of the 342-acre landfill and adjacent 10-acre recyclery at 1601 Dixon Landing Road.
The proposed rezone will not change the landfill's lateral size but instead aims to raise its maximum vertical height. Under the plan, Newby Island's permitted height of 150 feet above mean sea level would be increased to 245 feet above mean sea level, City of San Jose reports state.
The proposed change would add about 15.12 million cubic yards to the landfill's remaining 10.7 million cubic yard capacity, or about 26 million additional cubic yards, reports state.
"The proposed zoning will update and clarify the legal non-conforming uses on (Newby Island Landfill) and will specify the allowable current and future uses," a preliminary report states. "The project will not materially extend the life of the landfill beyond 2025 as identified
"This is a fairly substantial project given the sheer size of the area...and that's a significant height," Chris Burton, a San Jose project manager said.
Historically considered one of the leading odor generators that affects nearby Milpitas and also Berryessa, Newby Island Landfill's potential increase in waste capacity and its related impact upon the environment and nearby Milpitas residents has not been detailed so far in San Jose's environmental report.
"We're not sure what the impacts are yet," Burton said.
Saying there was no set date either for the environmental report's completion or the project's advancement, Burton reaffirmed the landfill's planned closure would still occur in 2025.
Although public access and the street address are commonly known to be in Milpitas, the entire Newby Island facility is within the city of San Jose.
The facility, operated by Allied Waste (purchased by Republic Services last month), handles solid waste disposal for the cities of Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.
Rick King, the landfill's general manager, said Allied Waste wants the landfill expansion in order to meet contractual obligations with its customer cities.
"At some point in time, we won't be able to serve our contract customers, like City of Milpitas," King said. "We need to meet the contract obligations. Otherwise, we'll have to put the stuff on the road and drive it out of the area, which will create more traffic and impact air quality with more greenhouse gases."
King refuted the idea that the expansion would make Newby Island Landfill taller than a 20-story building.
"It's not fair to compare it to a building; it's more like a hillside because it's a vegetative landscape," he said. "A 245-foot hill is not the same as a building."
Newby Island has been used as a hogfarm, fruit pit processor and landfill since the 1930s, and was later annexed into the city of San Jose in 1968 as an operating landfill. Since 1998, reports indicate waste quantities disposed there have varied from an average of 2,560 tons of waste per day to 2,089 tons of waste per day in 2002. Four years later, the average amount of waste was 2,142 tons per day.
Newby Island's solid waste facility allows it to accept an annual average of 3,260 tons of waste per day, with a maximum of 4,000 tons per day on any one operating day. Current tonnage limits equate to a maximum of approximately 1.2 million tons of solid waste disposed per year, San Jose reports state.
The adjacent recyclery, a materials recovery facility in operation since 1991, is located on a 10-acre portion of property and is owned by Los Esteros Ranch, a partnership. The recyclery's maximum permitted capacity is 1,600 tons per day, reports state.
According to King, Allied Waste needs to raise the height of the landfill to compensate for projected rates of disposal by customer cities. He also said that the landfill closure target date of 2025 was fluid.
"That's an estimate... it will close when it's full," he said.
Allied Waste has taken steps to reduce the odor impacts from its operations by placing its composting facility closer to the bay and by monitoring wind directions.
As far as community meetings about the impacts, King said those would likely be held sometime this fall.
"We don't have a schedule yet, but we're definitely looking for additional community input," he said.
King added the draft environmental impact report would likely not be completed until late this year or next year.
"I think (the project) could go in front of the City of San Jose in summer of 2009," he said.
King said the Newby Island project would first be reviewed by San Jose Planning Commission, and then by San Jose City Council. Other regional and state agencies including water, waste and air district boards will also scrutinize the project.
For more information about the Newby Island Landfill expansion project, contact project manager Burton at 535-7891.
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