Deschutes County solid waste panel drops 3 more possible landfill sites, down to 2 finalists; may add BLM parcel to list

(Update: Adding video, comments by Centola, SWAC meeting citizen attendee)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Deschutes County's Solid Waste Advisory Committee met again Tuesday to continue its recent efforts to find a suitable next location for the county's garbage, once the Knott Landfill in southeast Bend reaches maximum capacity in coming years.

"Today, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee moved to create a short list of two candidates sites for further consideration," county Solid Waste Director Chad Centola said after Tuesday's meeting.

The biggest takeaways from the monthly meeting were the addition of another candidate site on federal Bureau of Land Management land east of Highway 97 between Bend and Redmond, along with the dropping of three more potential spots that were up for consideration from the initial review list of over a dozen.

The three sites dropped on Tuesday were two Department of State Land parcels and one privately owned parcel near Millican Valley referred to as Roth West.

Now, after originally starting with 200 sites to consider, only two sites are considered finalists.

"The Moon Pit, which is owned by Hooker Creek. And there's a ranch property out in the Millican Valley owned by the Roth family that have been courting us. They are interested in selling to us," Centola said.

The two finalist sites now being considered for a future landfill are the Moon Pit site, along with the Roth East site, both in the eastern part of the county. The BLM site between Bend and Redmond off of Highway 97 is not a finalist at the moment, but it is under further consideration.

"That (the BLM site) is the one that concerns me, because it has a giant impact on people who haven't been notified yet. I find that disrespectful," said Daniel Baca, a Bend resident off of Bear Creek Road who came to the meeting to get information about the site to inform his neighbors.

Centola told NewsChannel 21, "In a perfect world, we want to be out of site out of mind for people. We have nothing to hide with the landfill operation. We're definitely a challenge to have as a neighbor."

The county Solid Waste Department handles the notification of neighbors by mail.

In the initial process, it goes to adjacent property owners.

"With the steps we've taken now, with the two sites, we're going to go out two miles beyond the property boundary," Centola said of notice sent to neighbors of potential landfill plans.

There is no perfect landfill site, Centola said several times at Tuesday's meeting, later saying: "Again, those sites both have positives and negatives about them. We're just going to keep forging ahead with the process that we've established."

Baca said, "Hopefully, people are involved. Come down -- you have a voice, speak. You can make an impact."

Centola recently told NewsChannel 21 that the county initially discounted considering federal lands (which make up a majority of land in the county) as a possible landfill site because the acquisition process can take 6-10 years or more, with no guarantee of success, not fitting the Knott Landfill's closure timeline.

Instead, he said, the county is looking at an alternative, shorter but more political process, where Congress can pass legislation, letting the BLM transfer land to the county more quickly.