We believe: Ralph Reed should accept his fate and realize he will never have a landfill on his property.
In the end, the attempt was lame. To beat the April 1 deadline that would have put into effect Senate Bill 43, Ralph Reed, owner of JM Corp., set up a couple of trash receptacles on the property where he still hoped a landfill would someday sit, and changed the name of his company to Mallard Lake Landfill Collection Container System.
It gave the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association something to get worked up about, but it was a toothless maneuver, a desperate attempt to give credence to Reed’s 30-year-old dream of a landfill.
Accepting trash for two receptacles on a site where a landfill is projected is almost a parody of the operation Reed has spent most of his life chasing. The dream shattered with the passage of Senate Bill 43, which will send Reed back to square one in trying to get county officials to OK a landfill all over again, which will never happen.
The law says this: “Provides in a county that zones that a person holding a permit for construction of a landfill that has not accepted waste and for which zoning was approved before April 1, 1985, may begin or complete construction only if the zoning authority reviews and approves the appropriateness and legality of the zoning under current law.”
In the last 30 years, Reed and his detractors have engaged in game of legal cat and mouse, and Reed has jumped through all the hoops put in front of him. He’s abided by the law and did what he was told.
Even though Reed undertook his venture as a businessman, no landfill ever began. It’s still an empty lot. Reed had ample opportunities to take advantage of the breaks given to him by the law, but nothing has happened.
Now, it’s over. Reed’s dream of a landfill is as empty as his acreage. This is a good thing, though. The Herald Bulletin has editorialized many times against the landfill, citing its proximity to Killbuck Elementary School, the effect on ground water that serves Anderson and the possible effects on safety and airport flights.
It was never a good idea to put a landfill in that area. Whether Reed continues to pursue his dream remains to be seen. But if he has to go back and pitch the landfill anew to the Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals, the landfill will be roundly rejected. That’s just a speculation, of course, but the vitriol county officials have faced from landfill detractors will be long remembered.
Shortly after the trash receptacles showed up at the landfill site, the county slapped an ordinance violation on the Reeds for putting up a sign, sending a clear signal that the county will do everything within the guidelines of the law to keep Reed’s dream just that, a dream.
In the past, residents have seen this yo-yo of a story go from one side to the other. The KCCA thought it had the upper hand only to see Reed rise again and again. But this feels like the end for the landfill. Let’s put it to rest.
