Trash to treasure: Lycoming County Commissioners approve purchase of land for future landfill expansion

The Lycoming County Commissioners voted to accept an offer from the General Services Administration to acquire 1,067 acres of land adjacent to the landfill for $6.5 million, ensuring that the facility will continue operations, serving generations to come.

"This will bring longevity and life to the landfill for decades -- for an immeasurable amount of decades," said Jason Yorks, director of Resource Management Services.

Speaking of the site involved in the sale, Yorks said, "Technically this is what people always refer to as the camp area. This is the old camp that the Federal Bureau of Prisons had. It's the land that's south of the recycling center."

"So this will give us years and years and years of capacity and disposal. So much, honestly, it will not be in my career. The next director or the director after him would be the one to be permitting some of those cells that far along," Yorks said.

Commissioner Scott Metzger agreed.

"This is something that's going to be for generations to come -- the expansion of our landfill," Metzger said.

Not included in the sale is a cemetery and Christ's Lutheran Church, commonly known as the Stone Church.

The project to buy the property has been in the works for at least 20 years, Yorks said.

One reason for the length of time it has taken to complete the deal was that many of the people involved at the Bureau of Prisons would retire and their successors would have to be brought up to date on what the county wanted to do. Or new commissioners would be elected and they would have to be educated about what was planned.

"You're just trying to get everybody up to speed on what the possibilities exist with this property and why it's so important," Yorks said.

Funding for the purchase will come from funds generated from landfill revenues.

"The commissioners who did this landfill 30 years ago or 40 years ago, had the foresight to understand that it was going to be an asset for the county," said commissioner Rick Mirabito.

It was noted that, during the last five years, the landfill has contributed about $12.5 million to the county's general fund from all revenue sources.

"Understand that only 20% of the waste in the landfill comes from our residents," Mirabito said.

"I think it's important for the public to understand that landfill is an asset and the 6.5 million for the amount of acreage we're getting for the future potential of it is really something that's going to be very good and of course we do it in a way that allows that land to be safe," Mirabito said.

"Every cost that we have at the landfill is paid by landfill fees. So in other words, their salaries, the equipment, their pension, their health care, everything is covered," he added.

The minimum-security prison camp, which had been situated on the land, closed in 2005. During its heyday, draft dodgers from the Vietnam war era had been housed, there prompting protests from those opposing the war. Two of its more notable inmates were G. Gordon Liddy and Jeb Stuart Magruder, who had been convicted during the Watergate scandal in the Nixon administration in the early 1970s. The buildings at the site have since fallen into disrepair.

The resolution approved by the commissioners stated that the county would have to put 10%, or $650,000 down and determine how the purchase will be financed. The commissioners will be exploring how that will be done, either through a direct payment with RMS funds or through a bond which will be paid through RMS funds. Closing on the deal will be within 60 days.