C & D Management Company applied for and obtained a permit to construct a construction and demolition waste landfill in the City of Rock Hill. York County and a local resident, Barbara Polk, appealed. Barbara Polk later withdrew as a party and the Nazareth Baptist Church was allowed to intervene to replace Ms. Polk. York County was in the process of updating the county’s solid waste management plan when this permit was approved. The old plan had been prepared in 1993-94 by Catawba Regional Planning Council and was out of date and not in compliance with DHEC standards. As the new plan was being developed, the county became aware of the C & D Management permit application, and asked DHEC to allow it to complete the plan before a final permit decision was made.
The SC Solid Waste Management Act requires permits to be consistent with the county plan. County Council passed an emergency ordinance amending the plan to disallow new landfills for 60 days or until the new plan was completed. DHEC issued the permit a week before the county completed work on the new plan. The new plan does not allow this new landfill. Pretrial discovery was extensive with about a dozen depositions and boxes of documents. Cross motions for summary judgment were filed, argued and denied. The case was tried on May 26, 28, and June 1, 2009. The key issues: (1) has the applicant made a “demonstration of need” for this landfill as required by Section 44-96-290 of the Solid Waste Act (2) which county plan, the 1994 or 2007 version, applies to this permit (3) can DHEC or the ALC disregard the county’s ordinances changing the plan.
Client: York County Other parties: DHEC, C & D Management Company, LLC, and Nazareth Baptist Church Attorneys: Susan Lake for DHEC Tommy Lavender, Joan Hartley and Leon Harmon of Nexsen Pruet for C & D Management Company Christi Cox and Bob Guild for Nazareth Baptist Church