Venango County recycling coordinator Erik Johnson has recommended to the county commissioners that the proposed county-wide recycling center be placed in the Venango Regional Airport bus depot.
Johnson said space will be freed up at that location once the buses are moved to the county’s multimodal transportation hub that is under construction in Oil City.
The $345,502 grant the county received in 2018 came with the stipulation that the money be used to equip and develop the recycling center.
Johnson said a three-month extension may be granted by the Department of Environmental Protection.
A second stipulation calls for an ordinance to be passed that would require three things, All residents must have some sort of waste hauler, any recyclable items would need to be separated from general waste, and there would be no burning of any materials that can’t be counted as yard waste.
Airport bus depot
The buses at the airport are scheduled to move to the new location in late January 2021, leaving the space at the airport vacant, Johnson said.
“The airport bus depot is zoned industrial and a recycling center is a special exception use so it would have to go through the zoning hearing board,” Johnson said. This process could take a month or two, Johnson added.
The space at the airport is owned by the county and is in the Franklin city limits where a recycling ordinance is already in place, Johnson said.
Johnson said that if the buses aren’t out by the time the grant runs out, the county would work with the DEP to make necessary adjustments.
He recommended getting the location solidified first.
“I like that it is respectful to the taxpayers – to use county property for the recycling center”, commissioner Sam Breene said.
He added that his main concern is the costs associated with the center.
Johnson assured him the market for recyclables “can only get better.”
Jason Ruggiero, executive director of the county planning commission, said cost estimates can be obtained once a site is determined. Johnson said cost estimates should be available by March.
The commissioners also asked about ways to make county-wide recycling more easily accessible to outlying areas of the county.
Michele Nestor of Nestor Resources, Inc., the consultant the county hired for the recycling center project, said his company is exploring the possibilities of making recycling more accessible to outlying municipalities.
Breene said commissioners will now study the recommendations.
