September 29, 2003

Julia Cook and her former husband were drawn to their "little cottage" 17 years ago because it's close to Hartsfield International Airport and shopping, yet it was quiet.

But that was before the lake and woods disappeared so soil could be excavated for the airport's fifth-runway project. Now, Cook looks out on dirt mounds and a clattering conveyor belt. She's startled by the occasional dynamite blast. And she's constantly battling dust.

The house across from Cook's is vacant, except for vandals and vagrants. Newco Ventures, which owns the dirt excavation site and the conveyor belt, bought that dwelling because it's near the work area.

"I was hoping to live here and go out feet-first," says Cook, 64, manager at a nursing home. "What I truly wanted to do when I retired was to have this abode here and travel to see the children."

Now she just wants somebody to buy her out because there's no restoring the way her street used to be. At a Clayton County Commission meeting earlier this year, Cook spoke against Newco's latest plan to create a construction debris landfill after the dirt excavation is finished.

Despite objections from Cook and others, the commissioners approved permits and rezoning to allow the landfill, which could grow to 267 acres and last for decades.

'Highest and best use'

Newco is owned by Lawrenceville developer John D. Stephens. Newco's partner in the landfill proposal is Newco 2, a part of the international company Lafarge, which operates a rock quarry next to the dirt site.

"This is the highest and best use for the property," says Newco attorney David Flint, citing the industrial nature of the area, which includes warehouses, the quarry and a closed sanitary landfill.

For months, tons of dirt have been moved to the runway site on a conveyor belt 12 hours a day, six days a week. The runway project is supposed to be finished in 2006.

Some community leaders feel that following up that activity with a landfill is adding insult to injury.

"It's not like it's a pool or Jacuzzi," says Tonya Lee-Willis, a member of the Tri-County Community Association, a grass-roots group fighting the landfill plan.

Tri-County contends a landfill will depress home values and possibly cause air and groundwater pollution.

"Why should Clayton County be a dumping ground for Atlanta's waste?" asks Alita Knox, another Tri-County member. "We've suffered enough."

Tri-County wants Newco to do something beneficial for the community after the dirt excavation is completed. But the two sides can't agree on what that should be.

Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, calls the landfill plan "environmental racism." The neighborhood near the runway construction site is predominately African-American.

"The black communities get more than their fair share of these lulus," Bullard says. "At some point in time there has to be a threshold that is reached that says, 'no more being dumped on.'

"They're being asked to take on another dis-amenity, a negative impact, that most people would say no to."

'Afterlife' cited

The consulting firm Joe Tanner & Associates helped Newco get local approval for the landfill plan.

Joe Tanner, who used to head the state's labor and natural resources departments, says the landfill idea is simply a sound business decision. "You're looking at valuable property. It's got to have an afterlife," Tanner says.

Newco originally planned a 129-acre landfill. Tri-County went to court to stop it, but its lawsuit was thrown out. Last month's commission decision allows a landfill twice the size of the original.

Last year, Tri-County and Newco negotiated about what the company could do for the community, but the talks ended without an agreement.

"What the community wanted and what we could afford, we just could not come to grips with," explains Tanner, who negotiated for Newco.

Tri-County suggested Newco fund a bike path or a park-and-ride garage whose income would flow to the community. Newco rejected both proposals as too expensive.

Tanner says Newco was open to the idea of helping fund a comprehensive plan for the neighborhood.

He and Stephens, Newco's owner, also talked with Commission Chairman C. Crandle Bray about the county funneling a portion of future landfill fees to the neighborhood. Newco attorney Flint said at a commission meeting the county could reap $15 million to $20 million in fees during the life of the landfill.

But Tri-County, distrustful of county government, rejected that plan, Tanner says.

Knox, who was a Tri-County negotiator, says whenever her group suggested creating an amenity for the community, Newco responded it was not in that type of business. "It was evident they were being deceitful and had no intention of doing anything," she says.

Tri-County attorney Lee Breedlove says he plans to sue Newco because it stopped negotiating. He also says Newco promised not to expand its original landfill plan. But Tanner says Newco never made such a promise.

In a letter to Newco attorney Flint, which is part of the court record, Tanner says about the deception charge: "Never in my professional career -- including 28 years of public service -- have I ever been accused of deception or falsehoods."

The County Commission in April initially rejected expanding the landfill, prompting the two companies to sue a few weeks later. The judge told the county to reconsider.

The commission approved the bigger plan 3-2 last month when Commissioner Charley Griswell switched his vote after stipulating some conditions.

Even though Newco and Newco 2 have won local approval to pursue a landfill, that doesn't mean the entire site is destined to become a dump, Tanner says. The land could become a mix of landfill, surface parking and warehouses, he says.

Newco already has submitted a small landfill plan to the state Environmental Protection Division. It calls for a 5-acre dump site, with the rest of the 20 acres vegetated buffer. The projected lifespan is four to 10 years. Wells dotting the site will be monitored for groundwater contamination.

After it's closed, the landfill would be a grassy mound about 50 feet high with pipes to vent gas.

Slated for industrial?

A growth blueprint done last year for Clayton and Fulton counties and College Park says Cook's neighborhood eventually ought to give way to industrial uses. The plan looks at the best growth scenario for thousands of acres south of Hartsfield over the next 20 years.

Cook and many of her neighbors see the writing on the wall. She joined a crowd of 200 at a meeting Tuesday in a nearby church, where community leader Innis Claud urged homeowners to sign a petition indicating their willingness to sell. A developer is interested in buying a large block of houses, Claud told the crowd.

Cook held off on signing the petition until she gets more information about the developer. In her view, the community's needs have been forgotten in the frantic pace of development.

"I truly believe you can't stop progress, and it's a wonderful thing for the city of Atlanta," Cook says. "But still you have to think of the people you're impacting with this growth."