City faces near-term landfill capacity decision; consultants request $8 million to build new cells while state permitting continues

City public-works staff and consultants told City Council on Feb. 11 that Pine Grove Landfill will exhaust its currently constructed municipal solid-waste airspace early in 2025 unless the city completes a planned new cell area (Cell 5) or receives state approval of a major modification that would permit vertical slope changes to add airspace.

What staff reported: Monte Jones of Atlantic Coast Consulting and Integrated Waste Director Drell Short presented the technical status and a recommended near-term action. Jones said recent submissions to Georgia EPD seeking approval for a vertical expansion and for a new C&D and class-4 compost area have been under review for an extended period; the consultant described multi-year back-and-forth with the agency and said the technical review remains in EPD comment-and-response. "We did submit the revised design and operation plan ... and those plans sat with EPD for 2'1/2 years before they responded," Jones said.

Why the city is asking now: Jones told council the vertical-slope modification would add roughly 2.5 million cubic yards of airspace and increase landfill life by about 17 years once permitted. Because the state permit was not yet approved and constructed phases 1'4 are projected to be depleted in 2025, consultants recommended building the first three cells of Phase 5 now so the city will have workable airspace in January 2026, even if the permit remains pending.

Cost and funding options: Engineering and construction for Cells 5a'5c were estimated at about $7.4 million with total program-level allowances (engineering, quality control, administration) of roughly $8.0 million. Finance staff presented two options: (A) an $8.0 million loan or advance from the general fund to be repaid by the Integrated Waste Fund over time (the finance director said such a loan would likely require a garbage-fee increase and a repayback schedule to be determined during budget planning) or (B) an $8.0 million subsidy from general-fund reserves. The finance director noted the Integrated Waste Fund currently shows a deficit between closure/post-closure liabilities and cash on hand and that any loan or subsidy would reduce general-fund reserves.

Council response and outcome: Councilors asked for additional analysis before committing funding. After discussion the council did not approve a funding motion on Feb. 11; the administration said staff will return with more detailed financing options (loan repayment scenarios, possible fee impacts and external financing alternatives) for council consideration. Staff emphasized the urgency of having either the state permit approved or Cell 5 constructed before early 2026 to avoid having to haul municipal solid waste out of county.

Ending: The finance director agreed to provide repayment scenarios and the city will continue to press the state agency for permit review. No appropriation was made at the Feb. 11 meeting; council asked staff to return with options in time for the upcoming budget deliberations.