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Consultant lays out plan, timeline and costs for Campbell County transfer station as 2029 deadline nears
Summary
Consultant Brad Kelly presented a 5-year tactical plan to make a county transfer station operational by 2029, estimating planning costs of about $1.4—.5 million and total capital plus first-year operating costs around $15 million; permitting and hauling costs were identified as key risks.
Brad Kelly, a project engineer with GBB, told the Campbell County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 10 that the county needs to begin work immediately if it wants a county-run transfer station in place before the Region 2000 landfill reaches capacity in 2029. "2029 is rapidly approaching," Kelly said, urging the board to start site selection, permitting and procurement now.
Kelly outlined a two-track project: planning and site selection followed by detailed engineering and construction. He said the county should assume at least an 18'4-month window for critical solid-waste permitting and recommended a site in the 8'0-acre range as a practical minimum, with a 20-acre site offering room for future recycling and organics operations. "You have to get your solid waste permits going," he said, noting that the permitting process can be time-consuming and expensive.
Kelly provided order-of-magnitude cost estimates: roughly $1.4—.5 million for the planning, siting and necessary state-required solid-waste management plan and outreach to reach permitting readiness; and a total development, construction and first-year operating estimate of about $15 million. He said hauling and disposal are the dominant operating expense — roughly 64 percent of operating cost in his estimate — and that any change in destination tip fees would materially affect the transfer-station economics.
On recycling, Kelly said the county—ased on GBB's composition estimates and comparable counties—ould expect roughly 2,000 tons/year from enhanced drop-off, 3,500 tons with targeted curbside in high-density zones and at most about 6,000 tons/year with aggressive curbside plus commercial mandates. He warned that recovery rates at an on-site MRF would be lower than the theoretical recyclable fraction and that mixed-waste processing has not proved financially viable in U.S. practice.
Board members pressed Kelly on permitting timelines, site attributes and lifecycle maintenance funding; he responded that a conservative assumption is 18'4 months for solid-waste permitting and recommended annual capital set-asides (for example, roughly 2.5 percent of building capital) for long-term maintenance. Kelly said the transfer-station per-ton cost estimate in his model was about $120/ton for basic transfer operations and rose to about $138/ton with additional glass and organics and more extensive commercial recycling.
The presentation ended with staff and supervisors agreeing to follow up with more detailed site studies, procurement options and budget refinements. The board did not take a final vote on building a county transfer station that night; staff asked for direction on next steps amid concurrent proposals on the table.
