The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County will pay Rolling Meadows $300,000 over the next two years for the option to buy 6.7 acres of city-owned land for a new garbage transfer station.
Under the plan, unanimously approved by the City Council on Tuesday, the city will get $70,000 now and the $230,000 balance in a year.
After two years, the waste agency will have to pay an additional $1.1 million if it wishes to exercise its option to buy the land.
The property, at 3851 Berdnick St., already serves as a garbage transfer station for Rolling Meadows. And the city can continue to use the site in that capacity until the sale is final, said City Manager Robert Beezat.
The waste agency, a consortium of 26 north and northwest suburbs, is expected to begin building a new station on the site before the sale is final. The old one, however, will not be torn down until the property changes hands. Earlier this month, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency approved plans for the transfer station to be built in Rolling Meadows.
The waste agency also plans to build a transfer station in Wheeling Township and will announce a third location soon, said Bill Abolt, director of the agency.
The transfer station will serve Rolling Meadows, Palatine, Arlington Heights, Barrington, South Barrington and Inverness. Garbage from the six communities will be compacted into bales and hauled to a balefill site.
No toxic or hazardous waste will be allowed in the balefill, said Beezat. Although the station is planned for an industrial area, businesses won`t have to worry about odor. The facility will be completely enclosed with a charcoal air-filtering system to keep odors from escaping, said Abolt.
The agency chose the Rolling Meadows site because a transfer station already exists close to industrial areas and offers easy access to trucks, said Abolt.
Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights and Palatine will receive compensation for hosting or being adjacent to the station, said Abolt. He declined to specify the amount discussed.
However, there remains the question of where the trash will be hauled for its final destination. Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers denied the waste agency`s request to build a balefill in a gravel mine near Bartlett to protect rare birds and the habitat.
In its revised proposal, the agency plans to create a $10 million habitat for the birds, although two of the 18 endangered or rare birds in question don`t exist on the site, said Abolt.
Until an agreement is reached on the Bartlett balefill, the agency will use a short-term disposal site in the metropolitan area for the next year or two, said Abolt.
Whether the Bartlett balefill is realized, the agreement between the agency and Rolling Meadows still stands, said Beezat.