The city has a contract to purchase 75.5 acres of land from John C. Holland Enterprises Inc., on the outskirts of Driver, to build a transfer station, according to City Manager Patrick Roberts.

“We do have a transfer station planned … and it’s early in the design phase,” Roberts said. “It is not a landfill or a dump … and no storage or processing (of trash) would take place on the site.”

Public Works officials have talked with three landowners of adjacent properties about the project, Roberts said.

The city plans to submit applications to rezone the property and acquire a conditional use permit to the Planning Commission within the next 90 days, Roberts said.

That will open the doors for public discussion on the project. Both the Planning Commission and the City Council are required to hold public hearings for the community to weigh in on the project.

But that’s waiting too long, said some residents.

Russell White, one of the three adjacent property owners, said the proposed transfer station would be 2,000 feet from his back door on Outlaw Lane. Earlier this week, he created a Facebook page, Citizens Against Dump in Driver VA, that opposes the transfer station. As of Thursday, his page had received 176 likes.

“I think they are trying to keep it as quiet as possible so all the background work will be done when it comes out,” White said. “I created the Facebook page — and I hope everyone shares it — because I want to make people aware.

“I’m 99 percent positive no one in Driver wants another dumping station when roads are already at full capacity.”

The information posted on the Facebook page is not accurate, said Roberts.

First, it’s important to remember the transfer station is an enclosed building that city trash trucks would drive into to dump curbside trash picked up around the city, he said. The trash would be loaded into tractor-trailers that would haul it away daily, either to the Southeastern Public Service Authority’s regional landfill on U.S. Route 58 or to a private landfill outside the city, said Roberts.

“At the end of every day, the building will be empty,” Roberts said.

Early plans call for the transfer station to share the entrance with Holland Enterprises and for it to be located in a wooded area at least 1,000 feet off the road, Roberts said. All outbound tractor-trailers will take a right turn onto Nansemond Parkway and travel up Interstate 664, he added.

If the station is approved, the city would make significant road improvements, including adding turn lanes off Nansemond Parkway and widening the roadway, Roberts said.

There is no chance the city would ever put a landfill on the site, he added.

“Under no circumstances can I envision the City Council would ever approve an additional landfill in either of its growth areas … and that site is on the cusp of the city’s northern suburban growth area,” Roberts said. “A landfill would be so far out of realm in terms of the city’s long-term comprehensive plan.”

The cities that belong to SPSA are still trying to determine the agency’s future after 2018, when the use and support agreements with all the member cities are set to expire. Roberts said he expects SPSA’s executive director will apply to the city to have an expired conditional use permit to build Cell 7 in the existing landfill reissued.

“If we decide to take our trash to SPSA, it will make the routes more efficient,” Roberts said. “If we don’t contract with SPSA, we will still need a place to transfer the trash.”
Ken Parsons, owner of the Knot Hole Station in Driver, said he learned about the proposed transfer station last weekend. He is upset by the idea of dozens of trash trucks coming past his quaint community, particularly with a new elementary school about to be built near the site, and feels council members have been deliberately vague about the project.

“It looks like we are going to be bringing other city’s trash into our town,” said Parsons, who penned a letter to council members and posted it on White’s Facebook page. “I need some answers.”

Phyllis Murphy, owner of Harmony House Antiques, isn’t too keen on the idea.

“I would not be too pleased,” she said. “I don’t think it would be a good gateway into Driver. I’m a little concerned the smells might cause a lot of animals to congregate … and I’m not sure it would be the best place with a new school so close.”

Derrold Mark, owner of Big D’s Hawaiian Ice Snow Cones, said he isn’t overly concerned.

“It’s nowhere near downtown Driver,” he said. “If they got to do it, they have got to put it some place.”