The county has finished construction of its new Ashley Lake Road green-box site off U.S. 2 and will open the facility on Nov. 18.

On that day, container sites at Kila and Marion will shut down as crews move green boxes to the new consolidated site, Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.

"The site turned out extremely well," Prunty told the county commissioners Monday.

Signs have been posted at the Kila and Marion sites to alert users of the pending consolidation.

Earlier this year the county paid the state $32,800 for a 30-year lease on the property at the intersection of Ashley Lake Road and U.S. 2. The entrance is about 600 feet to the west of Ashley Lake Road.

The site will be locked at night and maintained by a private contractor, Prunty said.

He also told the commissioners he expects extra maintenance will be needed at the Kila and Marion sites during the transition.

"I'll be a maintenance issue for about six months," he said, referring to residents who may continue to drop off garbage at the closed sites.

The plan to close the Kila and Marion sites drew opposition from residents of those areas who are content with the existing green-box sites and don't want to haul their trash to an alternative site.

At a public meeting earlier this year, most people agreed, however, that the current Kila site, located on a thin strip of county right of way next to the Smith Lake Waterfowl Production Area, is out of space and needs to be relocated.

The Great Northern Historical Trail currently stops on both sides of the Kila green-box site. Once the green boxes are relocated, the county can reclaim the land and the local Rails to Trails group can complete its asphalt trail.

Prunty said a small parking lot will be constructed at the Kila site. Topsoil will be hauled in for revegetation after the site is cleaned.

Marion residents have been more adamant about keeping their fenced green-box site, which got a $70,000 facelift three years ago.

But the county is moving forward on several fronts with consolidation plans for its garbage collection sites.

Prunty said he and other solid-waste officials will meet with representatives of the Great Northern Environmental Stewardship Area within the next couple of weeks to explain the Solid Waste District's plan for consolidation as it relates to the railroad corridor through the Canyon and along the southern edge of Glacier National Park.

Plans are in the works to close the three smallest collection sites at Essex, Nyack and Glacier Haven Inn (formerly known as the Denny's site).

The three remote sites collect less than 1 percent of the county's garbage, yet at $104 per ton to haul the refuse, they're the costliest sites, according to Prunty.

The Coram site, located on county land, is secure for the time being and would serve the Canyon and Middle Fork areas.

Also under consideration is the eventual consolidation of the Bigfork and Creston sites, probably at Creston, and merging the Lakeside site into Somers.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at [email protected]