PLAINFIELD TWP., Pa.- A Northampton County landfill’s plan to expand, which once seemed like a done deal, could come to a grinding halt on Wednesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Plainfield Township Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting and possibly vote on a pair of ordinances that would undo clearances previously granted to WM (formerly Waste Management) for what it calls its Eastern Expansion.<\/p>\n
Ordinance 434 would essentially negate Ordinance 426, which was approved last year and changed the zoning classification of\u00a0about 212 acres of land to the east of WM’s Grand Central landfill on Pen Argyl Road from\u00a0farm and forest to solid waste processing and disposal.<\/p>\n
Ordinance 434 changes the zoning back to farm and forest.<\/p>\n
In addition, ordinance 435 would require landfills to adhere to steep slope rules for development, which reverses ordinance 428, also passed last year.<\/p>\n
WM has been actively trying to move forward with the expansion since 2020. The company’s first application was ultimately denied, but WM\u00a0resurrected the plans and brought them back in front of the township in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last September, the board voted 3-2 to rezone the land and let the expansion move forward, even after the township’s planning commission, which works in an advisory capacity only, recommended against it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But since then, WM’s plans to acquire the 212 acres fell apart, and now, “Grand Central no longer has an interest in the property,” WM spokesperson Adrienne Fors told 69 News via email.<\/p>\n
In addition, WM “has no comment on any action the Township and the property owner may choose to take,” said Fors. “As to the proposed expansion, Grand Central will continue to evaluate its options to continue providing state-of-the-art solid waste management services in the region.”<\/p>\n
WM previously said the landfill would run out of space in about four years.<\/p>\n
The five-member board of supervisors that will consider ordinances 434 and 435 on Wednesday night is not the same board that approved the rezoning request last year.<\/p>\n
Three members- Glenn Borger, Ken Field, and Nolan Kemmerer- are holdovers from last year. Borger previously voted against the expansion, while Field and Kemmerer were in favor of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gone are supervisors Ken Fairchild and Jonathan Itterly; Fairchild voted ‘no’ to rezoning the land needed for the expansion, while Itterly voted ‘yes.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jane Mellert and Paul Levits joined the board in January. Mellert previously served as a township supervisor and has been vocal in her opposition to the expansion. Levits previously recommended against moving forward with WM’s rezoning request as a member of the Plainfield Township Planning Commission.<\/p>\n
If all five board members stick to their original positions, the new ordinances would pass, 3-2.<\/p>\n
Wednesday’s meeting and public hearings will begin at 6 p.m. at the township building at\u00a06292 Sullivan Trail.<\/p>\n
According to a meeting agenda on the township’s website, if the crowd exceeds capacity limits (62 people) at the township building, the meeting will be moved to the Plainfield Township Volunteer Fire Company Banquet Facility located at 6480 Sullivan Trail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PLAINFIELD TWP., Pa.- A Northampton County landfill’s plan to expand, which once seemed like a done deal, could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,44670,10163,30844,434,10162,30147,4907,2877,23373],"class_list":["post-263620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-board-of-supervisors","tag-grand-central-landfill","tag-landfill-expansion","tag-northampton-county","tag-plainfield-township","tag-public-hearing","tag-rezoning","tag-waste-management","tag-zoning-ordinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}