A proposal to expand the tonnage at a County Waste trash transfer station in South Troy has been withdrawn, according to an e-mail sent by Nancy Baker of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In the e-mail, Baker said County Waste has also made facility adjustments in conjunction with the City of Troy to alleviate existing traffic concerns raised by residents in South Troy.

The email in its entirety:

To the Residents of Troy - This correspondence is directed to those residents or officials who provided comments to the NYS DEC regarding the proposal by County Waste to 1) increase the throughput at the transfer facility, and also 2) to receive waste deliveries during the hours of 10 p.m. - 3 a.m.

The comments we received were extremely valuable to evaluating the potential impacts of this proposal. Most of the comments related to the existing traffic congestion at the Burden Ave/Route 378/Route 4 intersection. Comments also made the Department aware of a situation wherein trucks were passing the facility and turning around to enter the facility. This resulted in more passes through that intersection than were necessary, and contributing to overall congestion in that area.

As a result, the Department has worked diligently with the City of Troy and County Waste Transfer Corporation to alleviate those issues. The request to increase the throughput (tonnage) at that facility has been WITHDRAWN, and the facility will continue to operate at the level previously approved. In addition, during our review of the requested overnight hours, County Waste has made facility modifications (specifically, the removal of the old rail road trestle) which hampered access to the facility from the back. Packer trucks will now pass the facility and enter from the back, negating the need to queue up at the intersection, or make a second pass to enter the facility. This change should significant reduce congestion in that area.

The overnight ours were requested in order to comply with OGS contract pickups. A maximum of three trucks per hour are permitted to make deliveries during the 10:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m. hours, and no processing is permitted. Since throughput will not change, this will remove deliveries that previously occurred during the day, during peak traffic hours, as those will occur overnight.

I have enclosed the Department's complete response to comments, which outlines all comments received and the Department's response. I want to thank each of you for your participation in this process, and for the valuable and thoughtful comments that were submitted. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Baker also enclosed responses to comments submitted to the DEC during the public hearing portion, available below.

DEC responses to proposed County Waste expansion comments

In case you were confused, Mayor Harry Tutunjian outlines the role of Jeff Pirro, Troy's deputy director of public information, in an e-mail to Councilman Bill Dunne, D-District 4, after his and other Council members' attempts to get information about the operation of the County Waste facility in South Troy. Apparently Dunne attempted to go through Pirro on three separate occasions and was either ignored or told "we're looking into it."

Council members should contact me or the Deputy Mayor to get prompt and accurate information about issues involving city government. The Deputy Director of Public Information is the FOIL officer and is charged with providing information to the general public.

There you have it. Maybe this will help facilitate communication between the administration and members of the City Council.

As for the information regarding the County Waste facility (which has completed an application to increase the daily average throughput and its hours of operation), Tutunjian said that they are "in the process of gathering that information right now. We will make it available to you when it is complete."

The Department of Environmental Conservation is soliciting public comment on the expansion up through August 12. Councilman Michael Loporto, D-At Large, has called a meeting of the Public Works Committee for Wednesday, August 4, to obtain an update on the proposal. The meeting is scheduled to take place immediately after the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting at 5:30.