Apache Junction City Council approves closure date for landfill
by Richard H Dyer | Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent
A recent aerial from Google maps of the landfill and location of areas being filled. (Graphic courtesy of city of Apache Junction)
Dec. 31, 2035, has been set as the closure date for the landfill at 4050 S. Tomahawk Road and solid waste and covering soil may be piled as high as 1,723 feet above mean sea level, the Apache Junction City Council decided Dec. 6. The council vote also requires new groundwater monitoring of the landfill.
“2035 is the latest date it can close; however, it can close earlier and there are triggers in there that address that particular issue,” Rudy Esquivias, senior planner for Apache Junction, said to the council about an operating agreement, according to the video of the Dec. 6 meeting at https://apachejunction.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
“The current agreement that we are operating under does not have a closure date,” Apache Junction City Manager Bryant Powell said to the council, according to the video. “I have lived in this city near Baseline and Tomahawk for 15 years. When I started in January of 2001, I remember being told ‘it’s 10 to 12 years,’” he said of a possible landfill closure date.
