Lubbock residents upset about solid waste transfer station project

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock residents gathered at Alcove Trails Middle School to ask questions and air their grievances over a multi-million dollar city project.

The City of Lubbock has already spent more than $6 million on the plot of land that transfer facility is expected to be built on.

The director of the Solid Waste Department says multiple sites were considered, but the area near 76th Street and Alcove Avenue was determined to be the best.

However, some of the residents of Districts 4 and 5 disagree.

“I have to say, this was a poor choice,” one resident said.

In August, the City of Lubbock closed a deal to acquire 70 acres of land in west Lubbock.

The price tag for the land was just under $90,000 dollars per acre.

“We are going to have a total of about $30 million in bonds that are issued for this project,” Director of Solid Waste Brenda Haney said.

The money will come from the Solid Waste fund, so tax rates will not be affected.

Residents still had their questions about roads, traffic and most of all, the safety of the school children; the facility will be built near multiple Frenship ISD schools.

Kyle Rogers, who sits on the Frenship ISD School Board says if the board had known about this facility before, they would have done things differently in the district.

“Had we known that this place was going to go over here, we would not have built a new elementary and a new junior high in this location,” Rogers said.

Nearly a dozen factors were taken into account by the city when deciding the area of the new transfer station, but Haney says the number of students in the area was not one of them.

“This stinks,” Rogers said. “Not only your trash, but this idea stinks to high heaven, and the way it’s been handled by the council and the staff within the city.”

Still, Haney says this will help the entire city and save a large amount of money in the process.

She says the station could pay for itself in the next 10 to 15 years.

“I’m going to guess that we’re going to get about a 40 percent efficiency gain,” Haney said.

Haney went on to say that increased efficiency will come from multiple places, including maintenance, fuel costs and labor costs.

The city still has to go through the permitting process for the project, which could take up to 12 months with another 18 to 24 months for construction.

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