LAWSUIT TO BLOCK SALEM LANDFILL BASED ON ANTIQUATED REGULATIONS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 11, 1993                   TAG: 9303110527
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
LAWSUIT TO BLOCK SALEM LANDFILL BASED ON ANTIQUATED REGULATIONS
A Salem homeowner has gone to court in an attempt to block the city from building a new municipal landfill at Mowles Spring Park.
Peter Noce of Bent Ridge Road contends that Salem failed to comply with land-use regulations before it applied for a state landfill permit.
Noce filed a lawsuit in Salem Circuit Court in late February seeking a temporary and permanent injunction against Salem City Council.
City Attorney Stephen Yost described the lawsuit as groundless and said he would file a motion asking a judge to dismiss it.
"Our position is that we're in full compliance," Yost said.
Since 1970, Salem has buried lawn debris and ash from the city's waste incinerator in a portion of Mowles Spring Park, off Twelve O'Clock Knob Road. The city must close the landfill by the end of the year because of new state regulations that require double liners and tighter leachate monitoring.
Salem City Council wants to put its new landfill on a different Mowles Spring Park site, which would put it closer to residential subdivisions beside the park.
Noce has based his lawsuit on arcane state laws regarding land-use regulations. The lawsuit may not stop the landfill, but it has focused attention on Salem's zoning regulations, which even city officials agree could use updating.
The city's zoning ordinance is silent on the issue of municipal or private landfills. City officials argue that a municipal landfill can be considered a "public utility" - such as a power line or sewer easements - that can be constructed on any land zoned for agricultural use.
As a result, Salem officials say they can build a new landfill in Mowles Spring Park without holding a public hearing to consider a special-use permit or zoning change.
"As far as we're concerned, it is a permitted use, so zoning is not a question," said City Manager Randy Smith.
The Noce lawsuit, however, focuses on the city's comprehensive land-use plan, which has not been revised since 1974.
Noce's attorney, Edward Natt, contends Salem failed to comply with a state law that he says required the city to revise the comprehensive land-use map to show the proposed landfill site.
As a result, Natt claims that Salem did not comply with land-use regulations before it applied for a state landfill permit.
The 1974 land-use map depicts the 230-acre Mowles Spring Park as "public open space." There is no mention of any landfill - current or proposed.
Salem Planning Director Joe Yates said the city has been in the process of updating the land-use map for two years. Yates noted, however, that the map is only one of many city planning documents. A 1991 solid-waste plan mentioned that the park would be the site of the new landfill, he said.
Smith, the city manager, said the Planning Department sent letters to more than 40 landowners adjacent to Mowles Spring Park a few years ago informing them about plans for the new landfill.
"As far as we're concerned, we've complied with everything we require," Smith said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB