ELYRIA — It wasn’t the official hearing on Republic Services’ proposal to close a portion of Butternut Ridge Road, but opponents showed up anyway at the Lorain County commissioners meeting Wednesday to voice concerns.
Richard Polen, who owns Polen Implement on Oberlin-Elyria Road, worried that closing the road between Oberlin-Elyria and West Ridge roads would negatively affect his business. He said he experienced much the same thing when Interstate 480 opened decades ago and shifted traffic off U.S. Route 20.
Steve Jackson, one of Polen’s employees, said he too worried about what the closure would mean for the company and the area.
“I’ve got to think there’s a better way to get this job done,” Jackson said.
Republic has proposed closing the 0.85-mile stretch of road to allow its trucks to haul dirt from land the company owns on the north side of the road to the landfill on the south.
Although the landfill has another 13 years of life left in it at its current limits, Dave Kidder, the company’s municipal services manager, has said Republic will run out of dirt to cover the garbage with sometime this fall.
The need for dirt is why the company bought up surrounding land on Butternut Ridge Road.
Republic has said that closing the road will be safer than having motorists drive through what is effectively a construction zone for as long as two decades.
Kidder declined additional comment after the meeting Wednesday.
Pat Justin, who is involved in the Save Butternut Ridge campaign, said local residents and businesses want the road to remain open and think Republic should find another way to get the dirt across the road.
“It’s very discouraging that they think they can do this,” she said after the meeting.
The commissioners voted Wednesday to accept the request to close the road, but stressed that under the law they had no choice but to do so. The commissioners said they won’t make a decision on whether to grant the request until after they’ve viewed the area and held a public hearing on the matter.
The walkthrough of the road, which falls in both Carlisle and New Russia townships, will take place at 9 a.m. April 5. The public hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. May 3 in the commissioners hearing room in the Lorain County Administration Building in downtown Elyria.
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