Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104180461
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELLISTON LENGTH: Medium
They wrote to President Bush to express their opinions about the crisis in the Persian Gulf. They wrote to soldiers in the desert.
And soon, they'll write to the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors to express their opinions about the "trash train" that might haul garbage to the Roanoke Valley's new landfill.
The train might run across land owned by fifth-grader Travis Garrett's family and by Leanna Bower's grandfather, Elmer Bower - "the most beautiful land in Elliston," Bailey said. Her classroom has been abuzz with talk about it.
So on Wednesday, at Bailey's invitation, Assistant Roanoke County Administrator John Hubbard spent an hour with 35 fifth-graders and answered their questions about the train.
And to make sure Hubbard didn't get off too easily, Bailey invited Elmer Bower and Travis' mother, Robin, to stop by, too.
Hubbard started with a few facts: The landfill will be off Bradshaw Road in Roanoke County, about one mile east of the Montgomery County line. The train would run along a Norfolk Southern Corp. main line to Ironto, then double back up Fort Lewis Mountain to the landfill. The five-mile rail spur to the landfill would roughly parallel Virginia 629 and Virginia 622 and would cross 20 to 25 properties, Hubbard said.
(Hubbard is scheduled to meet with those property owners Monday, before a map of the rail spur's exact route is made available to the public and the media.)
The train would be loaded at a garbage transfer station to be built in Roanoke. It would have 10 covered cars and would make one round trip to the landfill each weekday, around 6 or 7 p.m. "It's not the same-sized train you see go by here four or five times a day with coal," Hubbard told the fifth-graders.
Roanoke County has offered to let Montgomery County use the new landfill, but no agreement has been reached. If the three localities that use the current landfill in Mount Pleasant - Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton - use the new landfill, the train would carry 700 tons of garbage per day. That would increase by 200 tons per day if Montgomery County uses it, too.
Of course, Hubbard reminded the students, "The more you recycle, the less goes in the landfill."
The first question Hubbard got was whether the train would carry hazardous waste. "We won't accept any hazardous waste at all, in the landfill or on the train," he said.
What happens if the train wrecks? "That's always a possibility. We don't think it will. . . . If that happens, we'll clean it up as quick as we can."
Will the landfill stink?
"Garbage doesn't smell too good," Hubbard admitted. "That's why you cover it up every day. You won't be able to smell it from the school. The people who are just around the landfill may smell it."
And finally, the fifth-graders wondered, how would people who live along the rail spur be compensated for any loss in the value of their property?
Hubbard explained that the Roanoke County Resource Authority, which will own and operate the landfill, will make up any loss in property values or even buy the properties. "The value of your property may go down, but you will not lose [money] if you try to sell it."
Then it was Elmer Bower's turn. He said he hoped Roanoke County would accept a trucking company's proposal to build a road across Fort Lewis Mountain and haul garbage to the landfill by truck. Hubbard is to meet with executives of the trucking company this week to discuss details of the proposal.
Bower also said he feared that garbage spills from train wrecks would contaminate Bradshaw Creek and homeowners' wells and that grading for the rail spur would increase storm-water runoff and flooding.
Robin Garrett told the fifth-graders that residents are negotiating with Roanoke County to try to reduce the train's impact on the community. And, she said, "Anytime you have a problem with your county, go to them and make them listen to you."
Afterward, it appeared Hubbard hadn't changed many minds.
"I don't think it's good," David Mangano, 11, said of the train. "It's going to affect our lives. If it pollutes our air and water, we'll have to deal with it."
by CNB