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Show County planners approve landfill by RICK B ROUGH Record staff writer Summit County's Planning Commission unanimously approved ap-proved a conditional use permit Tuesday night for the county's proposed landfill site near the Rockport Reservoir:' The landfill was approved, subject to its meeting state requirements. All six planning commissioners approved the permit, with one abstention from panel member (and Summit County Commissioner) Commis-sioner) Tom Flinders. The 115-acre site is west of the reservoir and just south of a residential area known as Rock-port Rock-port Estates. The county commission commis-sion requested a permit at the planners' July 23 meeting, but approval was tabled after Estates residents protested. Planning Commissioner Van Martin also was vocal in saying he had unresolved concerns about the site. But Martin told the Record he has satisfied his concerns about the landfill's visual impact and odors. Martin said he took a July 25 field trip with the other planning commissioners to Rockport Estates, Es-tates, which overlooks the site. He said the visual blight would not be worse than the current situation, with the Ute-Lite construction plant dominating the area. He also said odors will not be a problem for nearby residents. Martin said he visited the Henefer garbage dump and found a person could only detect a little odor when he is right on the site. Gases from the landfill would go down the canyon, not up to residents. And, in any event, he said, the county engineer and state officials of-ficials told him odors are not a major problem because the area has a short warm season. The Tuesday meeting was also attended by Rockport Estates owners, who still criticized the dump. But Martin said his perception was their opposition was not as vehement as before. The state is expected to supply further data on the Rockport site by Aug. 19. |