Mableton Residents and Business Owners Unite in Fight to Keep Waste Out of the Community

Fighting the Bankhead “Trash” Transfer Station has been a long and winding road.  The journey began in December 2011 when two other Mableton residents and I, unknown to each other at that time, made our way to the Cobb County Board of Commission meeting to voice our opposition to the Bankhead Transfer Station.  Three hands went up into the air when the clerk called for a show of hands for those who were present in opposition.  We three, complete strangers, raised our hands proudly as we represented our entire Mableton community against 150,000 tons of waste being approved to come into South Cobb.  

Today, our voices reflect thousands who stand in opposition of the Bankhead Transfer Station.  Through our grass roots efforts, we have voiced this collective opposition via emails, letters and calls to our elected officials, and on-line petitions which have gathered over two thousand signatures and comments from other residents prepared to stand up with us for the community they call home. 

The Cobb County Commissioners will vote on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 on a proposed settlement with the Bankhead Transfer Station, which if approved, would allow the company to truck in 150,000 tons of household trash to our community. 

The Bankhead Transfer Company, located at 1490 Veterans Memorial Highway (next to the Pizza Bar), sued Cobb County after the Board of Commissioners denied their application for a Special Land Use Permit that would allow BTS to bring tons of household trash into our community each year.

Cobb County officials participated in mediation with the BTS attorney in December 2012.  As a result of that mediation, what was rejected in the unanimous vote by the commissioners 7 months earlier has made its way back onto the Commission agenda for approval as a proposed settlement between the county and BTS. 

Therefore, the voted taken by the Cobb County Commission on Tuesday will have long lasting implications for Mableton.  This vote will ultimately decide if we go forward with a strong, healthy, prosperous vision for all of Mableton or if we will go backwards when heavy industrial usages permeated an overwhelming portion of this portion of the county.  Will the board vote for the community or will it vote in support of a single company, which has operated as an illegal public nuisance in our community and which has negatively impacted our quality of life?  

Mableton is working hard towards establishing itself as the new “value adding neighborhood” in Cobb.  A vote for the transfer station will alter these efforts and change this vision. 

Concerns have been raised by others regarding residential communities being built around industrial usages and later screaming foul.  That is not the case here.  Our residential communities, commercial businesses and other community friendly industrial usages were here first.  The fact of the matter is that The Bankhead Transfer Station wants to place a “non-existing industrial usage” on top of our existing community.  So yes, we are all screaming foul…at the top of our lungs.

The Bankhead Transfer Station was never legally authorized to operate as a landfill or Municipal Solid Waste transfer station.  Even though they chose to do so illegally, their illegal operations have no standing in our community or in a court of law. 

There has been some suggesting by the company’s attorney that the transfer station has “grandfathered” status.  Cobb County cannot legally grandfather in an illegal activity by anyone.  If they did, every strip club, pool hall, and alcohol shop would set up an illegal business without proper permits.  If caught, they could simply ask the county to “grandfather in their illegal activities” as the Bankhead Transfer Station is seeking to do.  A vote for this company would set a bad precedent as well as create a roadmap for others who want to illegally operate in our community with immunity.

It is well known that that there are several trash transfer facilities operating in our area.  A need for another transfer station does not exist, just a want for it by the business owner.  Another waste transfer station does not fit into the long range plans in this area or the bright future that was promised by Cobb County. 

Another waste transfer station does not provide any value to our community.  There is already a concentration of “properly permitted” transfer stations for garbage operating within a 2 mile radius of this company’s property and our homes.  Why would the county reward this company, which has operated illegally in our community for years, a permit to do something that 5 other legally operating businesses are already undertaking?

Plant Atkinson Road has a “state of the art” transfer station.  We don’t need to add another “state of the art” facility in the form of Bankhead next to this already existing facility.  It does not make sense. 

The Bankhead Transfer Station is located 1000 feet from residential homes, 2000 feet from the protected Chattahoochee River, and even closer to commercial businesses including a restaurant, a jeweler business, a hair salon, and other businesses. Property values for the entire neighborhood would plummet if this company gets approved.  We would be robbed of our outdoor enjoyment by the odors that this facility will bring.  In addition to the smell, we will have to deal with vectors in the form of rats, birds, coyotes and other wildlife setting up shop to feast on a “150,000 ton dinner” that BTS will offer them next door to our homes and businesses.  When they get bored or become tired of what they have been feasting on at the Bankhead Transfer Station, they will simply travel the short distance to our homes and businesses to seek out an alternative food source. 

The Mableton Community has long suffered as the “step child” of Cobb and has been deprived of positive development for years.  We are struggling to re-define ourselves after years of neglect and are poised for a great resurgence.  We are also just starting to come back from the housing recession’s negative effects.  We cannot withstand another hit in the form of a waste transfer station.  BTS would significantly degrade the health and propensity of our thriving community and reverse the efforts to transform this area into a safe, healthy, livable community.

It is extremely hard for us as homeowners and tax payers to understand why Cobb County is willing to entertain settling this matter.  It is also hard to understand why County leaders are failing to see the value of our community on the river as a possible economic engine.  Ask the Cobb Chamber of Commerce to aid the county in undertaking an economic development study on what we can do with our community near the water.  The river walks in San Antonio, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri serve as prime examples of what a community can do if they are on a waterway.  Cobb County could turn this area of Mableton into a multi-million dollar operation which would create jobs and new business development opportunities.  Mableton could become the place where people want to work, live and play, but it takes vision from our leaders to get us there.   Why would we take this jewel that we have in hand and foul it with yet another unneeded waste station? 

For those of us who devote out time working in the community for no pay and no recognition, we do so because we believe in Mableton.  We will continue in our efforts to create a positive image and a good quality of life for our community.  Our community of Mableton urges the Commissioners to continue their support in improving this area of the county by rejecting this settlement offer. 

The negative consequences for the Mableton Community in the form of 150,000 tons of waste far outweighs any benefit or added revenue the County could possibly capture by approving this proposal with Bankhead.