justin.schneider@heraldbulletin.com

A public hearing on the proposed Mallard Lake Landfill was never scheduled and announcement of the hearing was never approved, according to a Madison County lawyer.

Jerry Shine, attorney for the Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals, said the legal notice published in the March 20, 2007, edition of The Herald Bulletin did not pass through proper channels.

“The legal notice was run without the Board of Zoning Appeals’ authority,” Shine said. “We attempted to obtain the name of the person who ran it and (The Herald Bulletin) refused to tell us unless we had a court order. It was filed by the petitioners without our authority.”

The identity of the party responsible for submitting the notice and paying for it could not be ascertained Tuesday.

Daniel Spall, who serves on the board of the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association, is listed as petitioner in the notice. The KCCA was formed in opposition to the landfill, but secretary Sheryl Myers could not say with certainty Tuesday whether the KCCA had submitted the notice.

The notice announces a public hearing for April 24 at the Madison County Government Center. It “... is appealing an administrative decision made by the Executive Director of the Madison County Planning Commission to take no action ...” on the landfill matter. At the bottom, on separate lines, appear Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals, the name of Madison County Planning Director Michael Hershman and secretary Beverly Guignet.

During a meeting at Killbuck Elementary School on Tuesday, KCCA members announced that their concerns had been dropped from the April 24 agenda.

“This afternoon we were informed by our legal counsel that this will not be heard by the BZA,” said KCCA member Stephanie Moran, adding that the organization had filed an administrative appeal. “When we do go before the BZA, we will present a united front.”

In 1978, JM Corp. announced plans to create a landfill in Madison County. The following year, the company purchased 154 acres at the corner of county roads 300 East and 300 North in rural Richland Township. But the project has been mired in controversy and legal battles for parts of four decades.

In 1980, the BZA voted to grant a special-use permit for JM Corp. Since then, the KCCA has called for the board to reconsider the merits of the case.

Plan alterations have changed the original design from a subterranean or “trench-style” landfill to an above-ground landfill and this, group members say, forces the BZA to reconsider the matter. Shine said the specific design was never approved.

“The order that was made years ago was for a sanitary landfill,” Shine said. “That’s on record.”

Officials from the Anderson Community School Corp. and the Anderson Municipal Airport have aligned with the KCCA to fight the landfill and several spoke during Tuesday’s meeting.

Mike Fox, a social studies teacher at Highland High School, delivered a presentation on the dangers of the landfill.

He said it would have consequences outside the immediate area, including Mounds State Park, Shadyside Park in Anderson and Anderson University. He said landfill bring pests, as many as 100 trucks per day and destruction for surrounding roads.

Crist Blassaras, watershed coordinator for the Madison County Soil & Water Conservation District, spoke on the ecological impact Mallard Lake would have.

“I don’t care if it’s above ground or below, 83 percent of that soil is poorly drained or somewhat poorly drained and you don’t put a landfill on that type of soil,” said Blassaras. “I wish someone could explain to me why this makes sense because I don’t get it.”