CAMDEN, N.C.
Black Bear Disposal has requested a new permit from Camden County to build a landfill even though a state law outlawed the project nearly a year ago.
The county is deliberating whether it can act on the permit, said Dan Porter, Camden's planning director.
North Carolina lawmakers outlawed landfills near wildlife refuges last August while Black Bear Disposal, a subsidiary of Waste Industries, was trying to get state permits on a 1,060-acre tract along the North Carolina border with Virginia. The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is less than 5 miles away. The landfill would have been the largest in the state.
Black Bear's earlier zoning permit expired in October. The company had spent about five years trying to get the project started.
Porter said his initial impression was that the new plan did not appear to be different from the original one.
The tract was zoned industrial years ago, but applicants must get a zoning permit saying the county approves the use planned for the site. In this case it was a landfill and a commercial district. The permit must continually be renewed or extended if there is no substantial progress, Porter said.
A phone message to the office phone of Waste Industries Vice President Ven Poole was not returned. A phone message left with Camden County attorney John Morrison was not returned.
Waste Industries filed suit Dec. 3 in Wake County asking the court to declare the new law unconstitutional or force the state to reimburse the company. The company has spent more than $13.5 million on the project, according to the suit, which is pending.
Camden County signed a contract with Black Bear Disposal in November 2002 to build a landfill expected to be 2-1/2 miles long and 280 feet tall on 490 acres that could accept as much as 10,000 tons of trash daily from other states. It would have been the largest landfill in North Carolina.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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