[StBernard] SDT scraps plan for garbage facility

[Westley Annis]

SDT scraps plan for garbage facility
Torres won't fight business opposition Tuesday, November 18, 2008By Chris
Kirkham
After months of neighborhood opposition, garbage executive Sidney Torres IV
is pulling the plug on plans to build a controversial $2 million garbage
transfer site on Paris Road in Chalmette. 

Torres' decision Monday to kill the proposal came a day before the St.
Bernard Parish Council was set to vote on the measure, and as parish leaders
continue to investigate a series of sharp increases in landfill costs billed
to St. Bernard by Torres' company, SDT Waste & Debris. 

As of late Monday, Torres' request to rezone a 5-acre tract of land in the
5400 block of Paris Road to accommodate the waste facility was still on the
council's agenda, and many council members had not officially heard of his
plans to abandon the plan. Several council members, including George
Cavignac, who represents the Chalmette district where the site was proposed,
said they likely would have voted against Torres' request. 

"The people are all against it who live there, and I'm really concerned
about the traffic at that location," Council Chairman Wayne J. Landry said.
"I think he's exercising good judgment and he's not willing to go against
the people of the parish." 

Torres said his decision was unrelated to the ongoing council investigation
into garbage costs billed to the parish. 

"The situation with the garbage bills, that's not the reason why," Torres
said. "The reason why is obviously because the businesses on Paris Road do
not want it. I'm not going to try to force something that they don't want." 

By parish law, Torres cannot reapply for a zoning change on the property for
at least another two years. He said he probably will still buy the property.


During the past few months Torres had unveiled plans for an enclosed garbage
transfer station shrouded in palm trees and evergreens, saying it was a vast
improvement over the parish-owned, open-air transfer station he has been
operating farther south on Paris Road. Smells from the incoming garbage at
the new station would be masked by the same lemon-scented deodorizer his
company uses in the French Quarter, he said. 

But some nearby residents and businesses argued that the site would be an
eyesore on Paris Road and would lead to additional traffic. Cavignac said a
recently released traffic study raised concerns. 

As of late last month, St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro has
restricted much of Torres' use at the existing transfer site because of
unresolved questions about large increases in garbage disposal costs billed
to the parish since mid-2007, when SDT took control of the site. SDT trucks
from St. Bernard and other parishes were dumping trash at the transfer site,
along with St. Bernard residents and contractors who brought construction
debris. The garbage and debris were often mixed together, and the site had
no scales to determine how much garbage should be attributed to St. Bernard.


Since late October, Taffaro has allowed Torres to bring residential garbage
only from St. Bernard Parish to the site. Residents can still bring
construction debris, but it cannot be mixed in with curbside garbage unless
the parish authorizes it. 

Torres said he may still seek another spot to build a transfer site, but the
lack of a garbage clearinghouse won't affect his daily business. 

"We've changed some hours around, added a couple more trucks, and we're
going to make it work," he said. "It's not going to affect my business at
all. It's going to be just fine." 

. . . . . . . 

Chris Kirkham can be reached at ckirkham at timespicayune.com or 504.826.3321.