Petition to Keep Ivy Transfer Station Open

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By Paul Grady 

Several years ago, Charlottesville City Council stopped funding the Ivy Transfer Station. As costs mounted for the County, the Board of Supervisors (BOS) decided to close Ivy and open three convenience centers; one in the north, one in the south and another in the western part of the County.

In pursuit of their plan to build the convenience centers, the BOS sent out a Request for Proposals for potential operators for the three convenience centers. The only proposal that was acceptable came from Van de Linde in Fluvanna who offered to operate them for free in return for the recyclables. Anything that could not be recycled would go to the incinerator in Harrisonburg that makes steam for JMU. RSWA now sends our trash to a landfill east of Richmond to be buried.

At a public hearing on January 8, there was so much opposition to the two proposed sites for a southern convenience center, that the BOS voted to take both sites off the table and keep the Ivy Transfer Station open another year until July 1, 2015.

It is the opinion of the authors of the petition, that spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a duplicate of Ivy somewhere in Crozet that would provide fewer services is a waste of taxpayer money.  Because of many phone calls and e-mails from her constituents expressing dismay at the County’s decision to close Ivy, White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek has changed her position to one similar to ours.

In response to her constituents, Ann proposes that Albemarle County apply for its own permit from the Department of Environmental Quality to run the Ivy facility and either lease or buy the Ivy Transfer Station from the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, (RSWA), thereby eliminating RSWA from this equation..

The first step in keeping the Ivy Transfer Station open in some form is to circulate the petition.  We will set up tables for petition signing at Harris Teeter on February 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (weather date February 15), and Crozet Great Value on February 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (weather date March 1).

It is the petitioners desire for as many Charlottesville and Albemarle County citizens as possible sign this petition and support Supervisor Mallek’s ideas. If anyone would like to help circulate petitions, call either 434-823-9009 or 540-456-8590. All petitions should be returned by March 1, 2014.

Below is a list of businesses carrying the petition:

Batesville Post Office
B&B Cleaners
Blue Ridge Builders Supply
Crozet Hardware
Crozet Insurance
Crozet Running
Community Garage
Gateway Market
Green House Coffee
Mudhouse Crozet
Officequad
Parkway Pharmacy
Piedmont Store
Scott’s Ivy Exxon
The Crossroads Store
The Green Olive Tree
The Trading Post
Toddsbury of Ivy
Trailside Coffee
Wyant’s Store