The Deschutes County Solid Waste Advisory Committee recommended May 19 that the Horse Ridge landfill site be the next Deschutes County landfill. The proposal will go before the Board of Commissioners in June.
The decision comes after property negotiations for the previously proposed “Moon Pit” landfill came to a halt last summer. The committee tabled another proposed site, named Roth East, as it still posing concerns over the conservation of the sage-grouse bird habitat.
“Sage-grouse concerns have been really brought up through the entire process and it’s in a low-density area,” Jeff Merwin, solid waste director for Deschutes County, says. “There is some fairly extensive mitigation that needs to take place if that site was selected, and it was definitely considered by the SWAC Committee.”
The Committee voted 7-1 in favor of the Horse Ridge site. If the Board of Commissioners were to approve the site, it would come at a cost of an estimated $63 million.
According to Merwin, legal hurdles ahead include the formal acquisition of the site, which belongs to multiple entities. These owners are Knife River, Oregon Department of Transportation and Horse Ridge Pit, LLC. Purchase price agreements and terms and conditions still need working out, Merwin said.
“We believe we are tacking on pace to be open in a new landfill prior to closing out Knott [Landfill]. Our model has us with construction in 2028-29 providing we get through the permitting process.”
The way things are looking now, Knott Landfill should reach capacity by 2031. Merwin hopes the County can buy the land this calendar year. If the timeline is not met, Merwin said there could be a gap where there is no landfill for a period of time while Knott Landfill is used as a hub to transport waste to a new landfill in a different area.
“It appears right now we are still tracking to have a landfill site open when we are full here or not,” Merwin says. “Granted, there will be challenges and probably setbacks, but we feel that we’re on the right path.”
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