Transferring a view

Douglas and Jennifer Duplisea returned to appear before the Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) once again during the rescheduled meeting at 7 p.m. on July 11 at the Encampment Branch Library. As was reported in the page 2 article “Transferring the transfer?” in the Nov. 8, 2017 edition of the Saratoga Sun, the Dupliseas had approached the landfill board about the location of the recently constructed transfer station in Saratoga.

It was during that November meeting that the couple had informed the board they felt their view had been ruined by the transfer station and were unaware it was being built in its current location. The board had informed the Dupliseas in November that, when the transfer station was required to be moved to a new location, legal notices had been published in the local newspapers to let people know of the move.

The Dupliseas had told the board they had been out of the country during that time and so had not seen the legal notices. The couple offered to cover the cost of moving the transfer station to a new location that would have less of an impact upon their view. At the time, the couple was told by Craig Kopaz, of Engineering Associates, and Sue Jones, UPRSWDD board member, the relocation of the facility would require multiple permits and would cost millions of dollars.

On July 11, approximately eight months after their last appearance, the Dupliseas returned. The couple, whose property is located within Old Baldy, once again stressed to the board how their view was disrupted by the appearance of the transfer station.

“It has been eight months since my wife, Jennifer and I stood before you on November 1, 2017,” the Dupliseas wrote in a letter. “At that meeting we reviewed with you our communications with Board President, Mr. (Randy) Raymer as to our concerns for view preservation at our home and how the placement of the new transfer station area has impacted our home, our property values and our right to quiet enjoyment.”

The letter went on to detail interactions between the Dupliseas and the UPRSWDD as far back as 2014.

“In 2016 construction began on the new transfer station and recycling facility in an area different then what was stated and discussed, and directly in line of our view,” the letter continued.

The letter written by the Dupliseas also addressed recent discussions of a new pole-barn being built closer to the transfer station as well as the possibility of an evaporation pond for the wash-down water from the cleaning of the facility.

“We also have now discovered that the board intends to spend additional money to construct a Pole-Style-Barn for the exclusive use of the operator for oil change maintenance for his privately-owned equipment. Any additional construction on this site will further impact and continue to exacerbate our view issues,” the letter stated. “We understand the board also intends to construct an evaporation pond for toxic wash-down water. We have learned the Town’s Waste Water Treatment Plant will not accept this wash-down water without a toxicity test the board does not want to pay for.”

As was reported previously in the June 5 edition of the Saratoga Sun (page 5, “Building, water and road”), the possible use of an evaporation pond was discussed during the June 6 meeting after Kopasz informed the board that neither the landfill in Laramie nor Casper would accept the waste water and that the number of locations in Wyoming that will take wastewater has been declining.

“We understand the Board would rather dump this unknown toxic material into an open pond to evaporate into the air we breathe and all with the potential of animals and/or birds landing in the poisonous liquid, potentially spreading toxicity as the animals leave the pond to other sites to either die or sicken other animals,” the letter continued.

The Dupliseas ended the letter by informing the board that they would look to “other avenues toward a resolution.” Before moving onto other business, Jennifer Duplisea informed Raymer that they would fight the UPRSWDD on the newly proposed building “every step of the way.”

In other business, the landfill board heard two bids for the attendant’s shed no longer being used at the Saratoga facility. The first bid was from Richard Raymer for $3,251 and the second bid was from Ron Munson for $780. Randy Raymer handed the bids over to Leroy Stephenson, vice-chair of the UPRSWDD, who brought the bids to vote. The board voted unanimously to accept Richard Raymer’s bid with Randy Raymer abstaining from the vote.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the UPRSWDD will be at 7 p.m. on Aug. 1 at the Saratoga Town Hall.