On the latest episode of WKTV Journal In Focus, countywide issues that impact public school students educational success rates and also the quality of the environment they will inherit.
We talk with two education experts on the Strive for Less than 5 effort to combat high rates of student absenteeism, and then we talk with the director of the county’s public works department about Kent County’s Sustainable Business Park Master Plan for 250 acres adjacent to the South Kent Landfill in Byron Center.
Explaining the importance of the “Strive for Less than 5” countywide campaign is Mel Atkins II, Executive Director of Community & Student Affairs for Grand Rapids Public Schools, and Kent ISD data researcher Sunil Joy, who has studied the importance of the reducing absenteeism.
Also on the show is Darwin J. Baas, Director of the Kent County Department of Public Works. Baas will discuss the details of the Sustainable Business Park Master Plan, which is intended to provide opportunity for partnerships and innovative approaches to managing waste in the county, with the goal of diverting 90 percent of trash from the South Kent Land ll by 2030.
“WKTV Journal In Focus” airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel (see our Weekly On-air Schedule for dates and times). But all interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal In Focus are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
Dar Baas, Director of the Kent County Department of Public Works, visits the set of WKTV Journal: In Focus. (WKTV)
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On the latest episode of “WKTV Journal: In Focus”, WKTV’s public affairs show, we bring to the public a discussion with the Kent County official leading methane mitigation efforts at the closed Kentwood landfill — and the free testing available to property owners around the site. And, in the second in a series of interviews with Wyoming’s new city councilors, WKTV’s Ken Norris also talks with Rob Postema on his first few months on the job.
The new episode will air twice a week on WKTV channels starting this week and running through Sept. 22. Along with all episodes of WKTV Journal: In Focus, the new interviews are also available on YouTube at WKTVVideos.
In the interview with Darwin J. “Dar” Baas, Director of the Kent County Department of Public Works, he told WKTV that while about 150 property owners within 1,500-feet of the landfill’s western boundary are eligible for free on-site testing for methane, so far, only eight of the property owners have had their homes tested.
“We coordinate it, and then a local engineering firm — Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber — they actually come in and do the testing,” Baas said. “They have a form and a system that they use. Takes about an hour. It is very non-intrusive. For those that have had the testing done, they have been very pleased with how quickly we are in and out. And how well it goes.”
At the time of the interview, none of the tests had come back positive. The county is the point agency on the closed Kentwood landfill and methane mitigation efforts. Recently, the county announced expanded mitigation efforts.
In the interview with Postema, he talked about his long history in the city, including a stint as a member of the city’s planning commission.
Wyoming City Councilor Rob Postema. (WKTV)
“Planning commission is a good lead-in to being on city council,” he said. “You get involved with meeting with a lot of the citizens, at some of the public meetings, and you really get a good feel for how city government works. … But what you are really not prepared for is some of the other issues that they deal with, the non-zoning issues. I’ve had a great experience, so far, everybody views city council as ‘Its a team’.”
Postema, who was elected last year to represent the City’s Third Ward, grew up in Wyoming, attended Lee and South Christian high schools, graduated from Calvin College, and now works with his father and brother at an architectural and engineering firm in the city.
“WKTV Journal: In Focus” will started airing on Tuesday, Sept. 12, and will air on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 6:30 p.m., on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 and on AT&T Channel 99 Government channel.
The old South Kent Landfill — formerly known as the Paris Township Dump — has been closed since 1976 but 40 years on, the community is still dealing with the consequences of waste disposition during an era with no environmental protection standards in place. The 72-acre landfill is one of 65 sites in 30 Michigan counties that are designated as Superfund sites — sites that were polluted decades ago and are now eligible for federal funding for cleanup.
The closed Kentwood Landfill is under regular monitoring by the Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW) with oversight by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (The City of Kentwood owns the property; Kent County manages it pursuant to a consent agreement between Kent County and the EPA.)
Recently, testing at the site at 4900 Walma SE in Kentwood — off Breton Road north of 52nd Street — found methane gas underground at several depths to the west of the landfill site; it has spread farther beyond the landfill boundary. Eleven monitoring wells detected methane in the ground at depths of 5 feet to 50 feet. Concentrations of the gas are high above flammability levels and could cause an explosion if not vented and flared.
It’s important to note that residents don’t face any higher risk than they have been in the past, according to Kristi Zakrzewski, the DEQ’s project manager for the landfill.
If you are one of the 150 households located within 1500 feet of the west edge of the old South Kent Landfill, you should receive — or have already received — a letter from Kent County about arranging testing for methane gas. You’ll be able to request quick, on-site testing for methane through the Kent County Department of Public Works at no cost to you.
“Safety is our priority as we move forward with this investigation,” said Dar Baas, Director of the Kent County Department of Public Works.
Action shot of trash disposal at the current South Kent Landfill
“We are hiring an engineering consultant and have already started investigating methods to resolve the gas migration. We also have been in contact with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA.”
Methane, caused by the natural breakdown of organic materials — such as paper, cardboard, branches and wood — normally forms in landfills. Escaping methane is flared (burned) at gas stand wells on the site to prevent the gas from reaching the atmosphere, where it is detrimental to the ozone layer. An alternative to burning it is to convert it to electricity, and Kent County is looking into the feasibility of doing so, but there is no way of knowing how much methane is trapped under the landfill and whether it would be economical to build an electrical facility there.
Although the migration of methane beyond the landfill boundary is concerning, the DPW did not detect methane inside any neighboring buildings. They are working with the Kent County Health Department; if methane is found at the outer edge of the landfill, they will expand the gas stand wells.
Methane gas likes to spread upward. When it can’t, it seeks alternative ways to travel — horizontally — which is why it may be found outside the perimeters of the dump site. Any leaks are most likely to occur in crawl spaces and cracks in a building’s foundation, any place where methane gas can get through.
We’ve come a long way since the 1800s when people simply opened their back doors and threw their trash out. The Pantlind Hotel once had a piggery where people dumped their organic matter to feed the pigs.
Baas said that the South Kent Landfill dates back to the late 1940s when dumps had no environmental standards for the waste that was deposited there.
“The Baby Boomers started these dumps after World War II,” Baas said. “There’s a little bit of everything here.”
In the early 1950s, the area was the town dump, then became a licensed solid waste facility in 1966. The City of Kentwood operated the landfill from 1968 to 1970; Kent County operated it from 1971 to 1975. It was closed in early 1976 and capped in 1995 with several layers of clay — 6-inch layers creating a 2-foot cap — after which it was covered with topsoil and seeded with grass seed to keep the methane gas trapped. The site is mowed regularly to keep plants and trees from taking root and contributing to the methane problem.
In addition to organic materials, the site contains industrial waste.
“We used to have to treat the leachate waste water after the dump closed in 1976,” said Baas. “Forty years later, we are still dealing with the ramifications of this landfill, but we no longer have to treat the leachate as it’s a lot cleaner.”
Business as usual at current South Kent Landfill
Cleanup, operation and maintenance activities and groundwater monitoring are ongoing.
“We will always have to watch over it,” Baas said. “Today, it looks like a meadow, but we have no way of knowing how long it will be before it can be used for other purposes.”
The public is invited to attend a Q&A session presented by the Kent County Department of Public Works on Wednesday, August 31 at 7 pm at Kentwood City Hall, 4900 Breton Ave. SE. Officials from the City of Kentwood will also be at the meeting to answer questions.
If you have questions, contact the Kent County Department of Public Works at 616.632.7920.
