COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SUPPLEMENT A PLAN FOR SOLID WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL FACILITIES PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA June 1988 CONSULTANT Urban Research & Development corporation Bethlehem, Pennsylvaniavt CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ee ee ee eee 1 HISTORY OF THE PLANNING PROCESS »-.. ++. ++ ss ee CONTROVERSY. 2. ee ee ee Stee eee eee MORATORTIM 2 ee beet eee ee PLAINFIELD SOLLD WASTE PLANNING AND zoNING STUDY |) 1112112 ORGANIZATION OF THE PLAN - +++ ee eee eee eee tee ee SUMMARY OF THE PLAN se eee pee et ee ee eee BACKGROUND STUDIES eet eee ee ee ee eee eee OS ‘THE SOLID WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL INDUSTRY... . tee 8 LEGAL ASPECTS. 6 et ee ee et ar) REGIONAL SETTING ©.) ee tee ee eee see oT NATURAL FEATURES... 2 ee bee tee 7 EXISTING LAND USES. eee ee ete eee ee 7 TRANSPORTATION © ee eee eee 8 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: © see eee eee ee eee ee eee 8 BACKGROUND STUDIES. 2 ee eee ee ee ee eee ee 10 SOLID WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL. +++ +--+ eee ees THE REVOLUTION IN THE SOLID WASTE INDUSTRY... . . TYPES OF SOLID WASTE. soe ee ee ee on TYPES OF SOLID WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL USES. | 11. 12 ‘THE SPECIAL CHARACTER OF SANITARY LANDFILLS... 0... 13 LEGAL ISSUES. © ee eee ee eee OW STATE REGULATIONS. 2. eee ee bee eee ee Ow MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS. Fe te eee ee OS REGIONAL SETTING © +e +e eee eae NATURAL FEATURES © +e ee ee eee eee eee bee eee 88 EXISTING LAND USES -.-- ++ + cee ee ee 88 INDUSTRIAL USES. ee ee ee eee bee cee 25 INSTITUTIONAL USES... +e ee pete eee OF RECREATIONAL USES... ee ee ee ee ee OT UTILITIES. © eee ee 8 TRANSPORTATION » +. = be eee BIGHHAYS Se ee ee ne) RAILROADS AND AIRPORTS... - ss Fee eee POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS... eee eee eee ee ee ee ee 31 IN GENERAL. + - ese cee see eee 2CONTENTS (CONT, ) PAGE TOWNSHIP COMMITMENT TO REGULATION. 0. eee ee ee 2 TYPES OF WASTES. ce eve te cre eee u ee 38 TYPES OF FACILITIES. 6 1 eee ee ee ee ee 33 USE OF ZONING REGULATIONS. | 222212) I LITT! tt 38 ESTABLISHMENT OF ZONING DisTRIcT |) 11]. l 36 LOCATION OF ZONING DISTRICT... |. Piiiit 1 36 DISTRICT BOUNDARIES... ltt vst Dil ae ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS 21) 1212 PELIIIDIDDl 3s itINTRODUCTIONHISTORY OF THE PLANNING PROCESS CONTROVERSY As with many other Pennsylvania municipalities, providing a place in Plain field Township for solid waste processing and disposal uses is very contro versial. Despite the fact that the courts have determined that sanitary landfills and other types of solid waste disposal facilities are legitimate land uses which need to be provided for and despite the shortage of landfill space in Pennsylvania, many people don't want these facilities locating in their community. People are concerned about eavironmental quality and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources ability to regulate these facititi In Plainfield, this controversy was heightened when an existing landfill began accepting solid waste rom Philadelphia (resulting in increased truck traffic) and began plans for expanding. Xey questions were being raised that needed to be answered. Must the Township provide for landfill expansions? How far can the Township go in terms of regulating solid waste disposal and processing facilities? MORATORIUM As a result of this controversy and after much thought and discussion, the Township Supervisors unanimously decided to enact a moratorium on all solid waste disposal facilities ia the Township. This moratorium provided the necessary tine to perform a solid waste planning and zoning study to address key issues and questions. PLAINFIELD SOLID WASTE PLANNING AND ZONING STUDY In response to the coatroversy and in conjunction with the moratorium, the Plainfield Tovnship Supervisors initiated a Plainfield Township Solid Haste Planning and Zoning Study in April of 1987. The purposes of this were to 1) examine the legal requirenents for ounicipal solid planning and zoning, 2) to identify and examine various solid waste land use planaing and zoning cptions, and 3) to select and implement the appropriate options through zoning or other regulations. The study process involved five phases as shown in the following flowchart. PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP SOLID WASTE PLANNING & ZONING STUDY 1 u uu 0 y : oewriricavion |, | seuecziow acenoun azat t DEVELOPMENT oF nee s stor (>| ASPECTS oF vanious avenopnzare |L>) entation ORGANTZA1 a a ‘OPTIONS | OPTIONUrban Research & Development Corporation (URDC), a professional planning consulting firm, was hired to work with a study group during this process. Attorney Robert Sugeman was also appointed as special counsel to provide Legal assistance. The Township-appointed study group included 10 members: the three Township Supervisors, two Planning Coamiesion menbers, four Township residents and the Township solicitor. The study group acted as an Advisory Committee and provided input throughout the study, The study group met at least once a month, One meeting involved an on-site visit to the existing lang€ilt, Urban Research & Development Corporation (URDC) had the major responsibility for the study. They reviewed existing Plainfield planning, zoning and other related documents, conducted field trips, ceviewed the legal aspects of solid waste planning and zoning, examined various options, reviewed PA. DER regulations, reviewed Pennsylvania municipal regulations, prepared back- ground studies, met with and developed materials for the Study Group, and met with the operators of the existing landfill. ORGANIZATION OF THE PLAN ‘The rewainder of this plan is divided into three major sections: 1) Sumary of the Plan, 2) Background Studies, ‘and 3) Policy Recommendations.SUMMARY OF THE PLANThis section provides a summary of the Background Studies and the Policy Recommendations of the Plan. BACKGROUND STUDIES ‘THE SOLID WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL INDUSTRY e Accrisis in solid waste management hes emerged over the last 10 to 15 years. @ There has been a revolution in the waste processing and disposal indus tries due to new technologies, legal constraints and economic coa- straints, * The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources classifies wasres into the following types: Municipal Waste ~ Wastes resulting from the operation of residential, connetcial or nonhealth care institutional establishsents including: a. Gonstruction/Demolition Wastes ~ Wastes resulting from the con~ struction or demolition of buildings and other structures, b. Special Handling Waste - Municipal waste that requires special storage, collection, transportation, processing or disposal tech- niques. Municipal waste includes ash residue from @ municipal waste processing facility and the following: A. Sewage Sludge ~ the coarse screenings, grit and dewatered or redvied sludges, septic and holding tank puapings and other residues from aunicipal and residential sewage collection and treatment systeas. ii. Infectious Waste - Waste wnich prior to processing or dis~ posal is or may be contaminated by a disease~producing micro— organism or material or may pose a substantial present or poteatial hazard to human health when improperly processed, store, transported, disposed or othervise managed. iii, Chemotherapeutic Waste - Waste resulting from the production or use of antineoplastic agente used for the purpose of stopping or reversing the grovth of malignant cells iv, Ash Residue - Ash residue from a municipal waste incinerator chac are not hazardous wastes. Residual Waste ~ Wastes reculting from industrial, mining and agri- cultural operations and includes nonhatardous sludges. 3, Hazardous Waste - A solid waste or a combination of solid wastes which, because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chenical or infectious characteristics, may cause or significantly coatribuce to an increase in mortality or in sorbidity in either an individual or the cotal population, or pose a substantial present or potential hazard co human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, Cransported, disposed of or otherwise managed, s* The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources classifies waste processing and disposal uses into the following types: l. Processing ~ Any technology used for the purpose of reducing the volume or bulk of municipal or residual waste or any technology used to convert all or patt of all of such waste materials for off-site a. Transfer Facilities ~ Facilities where solid waste not generated on-site is temporerily stored in order to facilitate the bulk transfer of accumulated solid waste to a facility for furcher processing or disposal b. Composting Facilities - Facilities for processing of municipal waste by @ process in which organic solid waste is biologically decomposed under controlled anaerobic or aerobic conditions to yield @ humus-Like produc c. Resource Recovery Facilities ~ Facilities where solid waste is processed into a product including a compacting facility, recy~ eling facility, material separation facility, tefuse derived fuel facility and an energy recovery facility. 4. Incinerator ~ An enclosed device using controlled combustion for the primary purpose of therally breaking down solid waste and vbich is equipped with a flue. 2. Disposal - The deposition, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of solid waste into or on the land or water in a manner that the solid waste or a constituent of the solid waste enters the environment, is emitted into the air or is discharged into warers. a, Landfill Facilities - Facilities where solid waste is disposed in or on the land, Three sub-types of landfills are regulated separately on the basis of the type of waste disposed: Municipal Waste Landfill, Gonstitution/Denclition Waste Landfill, and + Special Handling and Residual Waste Landfills. b. Land Application of Sevage Sludge - Land applications of sewer sludge involwing any of che following three methods: agricultural utilization, land reclamation and land disposal. © Sanitary Landfills pose long-term land-use isoues because landfills 1) are temporary in that they exhaust a fixed disposal capacity in relatively short period of time, but 2) have nearly permanent conse- quences in effectively pre-eupting many future reuses of the Land dedi- cared to waste disposal. LEGAL ASPECTS « The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources has recently adopted regulations on solid waste processing and disposal.