Deschutes County Board of Commissioners finalized its top choice for a new landfill site: a partial gravel mine at the base of Horse Ridge, a federal recreation area and trail system about 16 miles east of Bend along U.S. Highway 20. That gives County staff the go-ahead to negotiate a purchase of the property — a step that tripped up the County two years ago in the search for its next dump site.
The County is banking on negotiations for the Horse Ridge site working out, because Knott Landfill, the current dump site, is expected to fill up by 2031. If the timeline is delayed any further, it could force the County to export trash to other landfills until a local one is developed, County officials have said.
And negotiations could be complicated. The County will have to piece together a sale with three different property owners including the Oregon Department of Transportation and Hooker Creek, the construction company with which negotiations dissolved last year for the Moon Pit site on the other side of U.S. Highway 20.
County Commissioners’ vote follows the recommendation of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, which reevaluated several potential landfill sites after negotiations fell through last year. The other finalist was a site called Roth East near Pine Mountain, about 24 miles east of Bend. The County passed on that site after state wildlife officials warned that it overlapped with sage grouse habitat.
Meanwhile, the mountain biking community expressed concern that a landfill at Horse Ridge would spoil popular trails.
Studies project Horse Ridge will be more challenging and expensive to excavate. Development costs are pegged at $63 million — nearly twice as much as Roth East. But Roth East would cost the County more over its 125-year lifespan, largely because of extra hauling costs.
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