Derby Must Notify Neighbors Of Dump They Already Know About

The Board of Aldermen Thursday night unanimously approved a publicity campaign to alert hundreds of residents who live in the neighborhoods around the city’s transfer station of operations there, so that the state Department of Environmental Protection can consider issuing a permit.

The transfer station has operated without a permit since it opened in 1996. The city is trying to get one after-the-fact. The notification is required by the DEP.

The city never followed up during the initial permitting process — and the DEP never noticed, the DEP told the Valley Independent Sentinel in December.

Someone screwed up big time,” said Phil Robertson, the city’s chief administrative officer, when he addressed the panel Thursday night and asked for approval of the campaign, technically known as an Environmental Justice Participation Plan.

City officials discovered in 2008 that no permit had ever been applied for, and an attorney made an application in March that year, Robertson said. 

Officials then learned the city first needs to notify residents as if the project were brand new.

It will involve hundreds of dollars worth of advertising in local newspapers.

We have to notify people who live in the area, and explain to them the environmental impact the creation of a transfer station would have,” Robertson said. We have to notify people and explain it to them like it’s done when someone is going to build a new dump.”

It is not clear how long it would take to move to the next step, which is review of the permit application.

The transfer station closed in December. Residents now use a transfer station in Shelton.

City officials also were meeting with union workers to figure out who should run the place.

The transfer station is on Pine Street is where Derby residents dumped household trash for free. For a fee, they could also dispose of bulk waste there like car tires, couches, and refrigerators.

Permit processes haven’t been the only trouble for the transfer station though. It has also been embroiled in controversy after allegations of mismanagement arose in 2008. 

There were inadequate dump logs, which resulted in two workers being fired. The firings were too drastic, state labor panels ruled, and both men are back at work.

The city could face heavy fines from the state because the transfer station is out-of-date, without a building to dump and sort trash, for example.

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