AN airplane takes off from the Oneida County Airport in Rhinelander, WI (BEN MEYER/WXPR)
RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) – An Oneida County committee has shot down a company’s plan to build a waste transfer facility near Rhinelander’s airport. The Planning and Development committee denied a conditional use permit on Wednesday.
JBM Howard Companies had proposed to build a transfer facility that could handle up to 50 tons of trash and recycling per day. It would have been located on Highway 47 near the Highway 8 intersection. But the plan got plenty of pushback, as committee member Mike Timmons noted. “Because of opinion of the locals…and the uproar of the locals that are against it.”
Airport Director Matthew Leitner called the plan “a terrible proposal.” He said tt would have violated FAA guidelines for the proximity of waste sites to airports. Waste sites can attract birds and cause a hazard to airplanes.
Even so, committee chair Scott Holewinski showed support for the plan. “The applicant has done everything he could to move everything further away [from the road]. Nobody is going to see the business from the road, I don’t think. I think he’s, based on the proposed conditions, that he has tried to maintain everything possible not to affect the neighboring properties.”
The waste company could appeal the decision to the county’s Board of Adjustment. A company representative said he wasn’t sure whether the company would take that step.
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