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Starke dump, Crosby boat ramp open again
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| By: Mark J. Crawford, Editor |
May 08, 2008 |
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A longer boat ramp at Crosby Lake will help boaters as lake levels fluctuate.
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The county completed two major projects in the last week, making a boat ramp and a solid waste collection center available for public use again.
According to Solid Waste Director Donny Wise, the project to expand the Starke solid waste collection center was necessary to comply with requirements from the Department of Environmental Protection to keep trash other than yard debris off the ground.
Unfortunately, loads of yard debris often contained some small amount of trash or litter mixed in with limbs, and that resulted in reprimands from DEP, although the county was never fined.
Limbs and other yard debris are now being stored off the ground in a separate container before the county hauls it to the landfill.
Additional cost beyond the $344,000 construction contract was incurred when workers encountered garbage that was buried in the area of the new retention pond years before disposal permits were required, Wise said. The cost of hauling that waste to the landfill added another $21,440 to the project.
The Starke collection center reopened to the public on Monday after several months' closure. Starke residents will continue to be welcomed at the site since the city and county came to an agreement over the amount of a disposal surcharge the city pays.
That welcome mat does not apply to haulers of commercial waste, however. Wise said the collection sites are for the disposal of residential household waste alone, and that has always been the case. Because Starke is the county's commercial center, however, there is a greater tendency for businesses to try to bring garbage to the Starke collection site.
Wise said that waste has never been allowed and workers will enforce that policy.
Last Friday, the county reopened another site to the public. The public boat ramp on Crosby Lake at the end of Southwest 65th Avenue is accessible to boaters once again.
That project cost around $70,000 and was paid for with revenue from sporting licenses, according to County Manager Brad Carter said.
The new boat ramp is a longer one, he said, so it should serve the boaters well as lake levels rise and fall.
"I encourage everybody to use it and enjoy it," said Carter.
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©Bradford County Telegraph 2009
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