A solid waste transfer station could be operating by next year, the engineer working on the project for Roanoke Rapids told council at its work session tonight.
William Dreitzler, North Carolina operations and technical manager for ms consultants said site selection could be completed by December. He said it will take about two months to design the transfer station while construction would begin in the spring. “About a year from now it would be open.”
Dreitzler said he should have a matrix completed of site selection criteria in the next 30 days.
City Manager Paul Sabiston said between 15 to 20 sites are being studied. He anticipates an initial public hearing by the middle of December.
Once those sites are narrowed down, he anticipates another public hearing by the middle of January.
Having worked on transfer stations before, Dreitzler said, “We know how important public involvement is.”
Some of the sites include the old landfill site at Deep Creek Road, a site across from public works which housed the old dog pound and a piece of land next to Halifax Linen which has since been sold.The city has had private citizens offer it land.
Each of the sites have plusses and minuses, the city has said, including the one the city is currently looking at, land at the public works building on Hinson Street, which residents in the Lincoln Heights and South Rosemary communities have objected to.
The latest revenue projections for the approximately $695,000 project show with a transfer station the city could see operating revenues over expenses of $282,814. Without a station that figure would be $180,742.
The projections are based on 28,000 tons per year with 7,200 coming from the city’s own solid waste and debris.
Financing options have also changed since the matter was first discussed, Sabiston has said, with debt service being calculated on financing $700,000 over 20 years at an estimated percentage rate of 3.05 percent.
Financing for 20 years instead of 10 years contained in earlier documents would mean an annual debt service of $47,268.66.
A transfer station is a facility where residential and commercial solid waste may be delivered and then transferred by independent haulers to a landfill.
The city’s own collection trucks and third party commercial haulers which pick up solid waste or choose to bring it from other areas will be the primary users, an earlier memo says.
Preliminary studies by the state Department of Transportation show Hinson Street, where the proposed station would be located, would not have to be improved if 100,000 tons a year were transported on it.
