ERB presses IWS on leased snow storage, leachate containment and acreage limits under 80‑b code

IWS updated the board on its planning reissuance and a proposed water tower; members from planning and ERB focused on two interlinked issues: (1) whether leased land that IWS proposes to use is properly part of the company’s permitted acreage under the town’s 80‑b code (the town’s approach ties permit limits to a 300‑acre landfill threshold, with the Orange County Landfill taking about 299 acres) and (2) how contaminated runoff and snow storage will be handled. Committee member (S2) said the presentation included snow storage and a leased area outside IWS’s prior approved property, prompting repeated questions about whether that would “add to the acreage” and therefore breach code limits.

Environmental concerns dominated discussion: board members said bringing snow and truck runoff outside the previously approved containment area risks spreading leachate to adjacent land and into local waterways. Committee member (S5) and others pressed for an explicit on‑site containment system (a hold‑and‑pump or retention pond), testing and monitoring of leachate, and clear documentation of where stormwater outlets drain. The ERB asked planning and the building inspector to clarify ownership/lease status for the adjacent land and to require technical plans demonstrating that snow storage and any exterior leachate will be retained and treated on‑site rather than allowed to melt downhill toward the Wilke/Walker River watershed.