Public Hearings Set for Proposed Landfill in Franklin Park

Franklin Park Borough Council has scheduled public hearings for July 17 and Aug. 21 on a proposed West View Water landfill, which the utility wants to build near its existing water tank off of Brandt School Road. 

The 5-acre site would hold excavated materials from sites of water main repairs.

Borough council scheduled the two public hearings to give the solicitor for West View Water time to present more witness testimony, and a lawyer representing opponents of the plan to respond, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

A group of Franklin Park residents are fighting the proposal. 

Jake Pultorak lives in the Ramblewood neighborhood, within eyeshot of the proposed landfill.

"That area is zone R-2 residential and solid waste facilities are prohibited," Pultorak said. "Several letters from West View Water’s own attorney even stated that this fill is in fact solid waste and construction waste from roadside construction or demolition, which plainly categorizes this use as solid waste disposal or storage site."

The Franklin Park Borough Planning Commission unanimously rejected the proposal at its last meeting on May 21.

This is not the first time Franklin Park residents have battled with West View Water. In 1993, the utility took Franklin Park to court over the borough's rejection of a proposed truck garage at the same site. After years of litigation, the courts ultimately sided with the borough.

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