County considers a composting facility
Boulder County is proposing the creation of a composting facility on 40 acres of county- owned land at the former Rainbow Nursery tree farm, 5762 N. 107th St., south of Longmont.
That potential compost processing facility site lies a distance south of Colorado 52 on the east side of U. S. 287. Studies, design and planning for development of such a facility at that proposed location are still in very preliminary stages, county officials said.
“It’s all conceptual,” Boulder County Public Works Department spokesman Andrew Barth said Monday about the current status of the planning, design, and construction of the project — a project he said has an estimated $ 7 million price tag.
According to a Boulder County website’s description of the project, “the creation and implementation of the compost facility will help achieve our goal of ‘ Zero Waste or Darn Near by 2025’ by capturing 20% to 30% of compostable county waste and increasing landfill diversion by 5% to 10%. The compost generated will be provided for area agricultural uses, which will help increase local, sustainable food production.”
That website advises that “we anticipate beginning a robust community outreach and engagement plan” later this fall, “when preliminary facility designs are available for review and comment.”
Meanwhile, the county has invited some adjacent property owners to meet with county officials at the onetime tree farm so those neighbors can ask questions and make comments about the project. Barth said larger public meetings are to be scheduled, once the county has a more detailed design of the facility.
One resident, Tom Smith, said the facility “is being opposed by neighbors due to odor, flies, loss of property values, and added traffic on 287,” what he called a “very busy highway.”
Boulder County acknowledges on another of its websites — Compost Facility FAQs — that “we’ve been hearing from the public and property owners in the vicinity.” In their online answers to some of those questions, county officials said the proposal under review is for a composting facility “that will accept vegetative waste — leaves, grass, branches, limbs, and forest materials — and animal waste, manure, food scraps, and food processing vegetative waste.”
The facility is currently being designed “to accept waste from commercial haulers, but there may be future opportunity for residential drop- off. The compost material generated will primarily be used for agricultural purposes, but there may be opportunity for residential use in the future.”