Residents urge Mobile County to deny proposed Emerald Coast C&D landfill; county to decide within 30 days

Mobile County Commission held a public hearing April 14 on an application from TIGS Holdings for a proposed Emerald Coast construction-and-demolition (C&D) landfill on County Farm Road, drawing more than a dozen speakers and opposition from local environmental groups and watershed monitors.

The hearing matters because the proposed site drains to the Fowl River watershed, a spring-fed system that speakers and advocacy groups said supplies sensitive estuary habitat and recreational areas. Commissioner Jay Dewitt led the proceedings and staff said the commission must take formal action within 30 days following the public comment period.

Scott Hutchinson, an engineer with Goodwin Mills and Caywood representing the applicant, described the project as a conversion of an existing borrow pit. "This is a c and d landfill, and it's not a household waste landfill," Hutchinson said. He said about 62 of the site's roughly 80 acres would be used for…