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Wake County to Hear Shotwell Environmental Park Franchise Modification Next Week
Summary
Wake County solid-waste staff briefed commissioners on a Meridian Waste request to use about 11.25 acres of existing property at Shotwell Environmental Park for future construction-and-demolition (C&D) debris placement; Meridian says the change would not increase daily inbound tonnage and would extend site life by roughly four years.
John Robertson, Wake County solid waste director, told the Board of Commissioners on July 9 that Meridian Waste has filed to modify the construction-and-demolition (C&D) franchise for Shotwell Environmental Park and that the item is scheduled for a public hearing on the board's regular agenda next Monday.
Robertson said C&D landfills accept construction materials such as wood, metal, concrete and asphalt—not household or commercial municipal solid waste—and typically generate little methane. He said Wake County franchises regulate two main things: the annual maximum tonnage a facility may accept and the counties from which it can receive waste. He added that the county's four primary C&D franchises do not actually receive the full maximum tonnage listed in the franchise documents.
Meridian Waste representatives said the proposed modification would allow Shotwell to place material in an additional horizontal area of about 11.25 acres within its existing property footprint. Patrick Messenger, area president for Meridian Waste in North Carolina, said the change “is not going to increase the daily tonnage we'll receive” and that Meridian expects the expansion would extend the facility’s useful life by “approximately 4 years.” He also said the site’s materials-recovery facility is currently recovering about 10 percent of inbound materials, “about 18,000 tons a year.”
Robertson and staff clarified the next steps if the board approves the franchise modification: the county process requires a noticed public hearing before the board and then a second board meeting at least 30 days later for a final action per North Carolina General Statutes. County staff also noted that a subsequent rezoning or special-use permit approval by the local board of adjustment and a substantial permit amendment from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would likely be required before Meridian could alter operations on the new acreage.
Commissioners asked about odors, buffers and traffic. Commissioner Adamson said he toured the site and observed “zero odors” and praised improvements compared with other facilities. Commissioner Stallings pressed Meridian on whether recycling throughput could exceed the current roughly 10 percent level; Meridian said staff believe the materials-recovery facility could grow from about 100 tons per day toward perhaps 150 tons per day with more staffing and operational tuning. Commissioners Jackson and others asked about neighborhood notice; Meridian said the company complied with the county's public-notice requirements—signage on the property, a library copy of the application at the Wendell Community Library and an advertisement in the News & Observer—and reported no public responses to date.
Robertson emphasized that DEQ reviews any changes that implicate permits, and that zoning approvals and DEQ permit amendments are separate, required steps after any county franchise approval. County staff said they will bring the Shotwell franchise modification to the board for the advertised public hearing next Monday.
Meridian representatives and several commissioners noted the facility’s recycling gains since Meridian took ownership in 2020 and described the proposal as a largely horizontal expansion inside existing buffers rather than additional property acquisition.
If the board takes formal action next week, the DEQ process and any board-of-adjustment zoning steps would follow; staff said they will be available to answer technical questions at the public hearing.
