A study group has developed two alternative plans for keeping the Bigfork green-box refuse site, handing the ball off to county officials to decide the next step.

The Flathead County Solid Waste Board in January agreed to delay a decision on closing the Bigfork green-box site for six months to give Bigfork residents time to develop alternative plans.

A strategic report for the county landfill recommends closing both the Bigfork and Lakeside green-box sites and consolidating services at staffed and fenced locations at Somers and Creston. The county has consolidated other outlying sites in recent years, largely to save money and provide safer facilities.

But the consolidations have been controversial as neighbors have pleaded to keep their green boxes in close proximity.

Paul Mutascio, president of the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, presented the study group’s findings to the Solid Waste Board on Tuesday, reiterating the plight of Bigfork residents if they were to lose their green-box site.

The study group estimated users would spend between $250,000 and $570,000 more per year in gasoline costs to drive to the Somers collection site. Curbside pickup in such a rural area is difficult, and those who would have access to such service would pay nearly $300 a year on top of the annual $80 solid waste tax.

One alternative is to expand and improve the existing site on Montana 83. The study group maintained that site could be expanded by 25 percent because the current layout doesn’t use all of the land leased from the Montana Department of Transportation.

Trash bins could be angled at 30 degrees to give disposal trucks more room to maneuver. Adjoining property owner Margaret Conley is willing to lease some of her land to the county for expansion to the south at the existing site, the study group report said.

The idea of leasing land south of the site wasn’t immediately embraced by the Solid Waste Board.

“I have a hard time supporting it if it barely covers our needs for today,” Board Chairman Hank Olson said. “If the Bigfork site stays, it has to be bigger.”

Commissioner Gary Krueger, the commissioners’ representative on the board, pointed out that leasing land from a private party, plus the state lease, would put the county in a position of having two landlords for the site.

The other alternative suggested by the study group would be to build a new site on acreage also owned by Conley immediately east of the current site. The property is zoned suburban agricultural and would have to be subdivided into a five-acre parcel that could be either leased or purchased.

County Public Works Director Dave Prunty met with the commissioners on Wednesday to further discuss the alternatives.

“If we stay in Bigfork we would hope to purchase property to the east and south,” Prunty said.

He said the study group has talked with Conley several times, and that at this point she was “leaning toward” leasing the property. The five-acre site to the east would be feasible, but would need ample room for road development because of a low area on the property.

Krueger said he would prefer to have the county purchase land for a new site and told the Solid Waste Board he would “fully expect the Bigfork community to put in matching money.”

Prunty said he will serve as the liaison between Conley and the Solid Waste Board and commissioners as negotiations continue.

If the county does decide to keep green boxes at Bigfork, it won’t affect future plans to fence and staff the Creston and Somers sites, Prunty said.

Leases with the state for both the Bigfork and Lakeside sites were renegotiated last year for another 10 years. The county will pay $2,000 per year per site for the first five years and then the lease can be re-evaluated by the state.

The Lakeside green boxes also are slated to close as part of the consolidation with the Creston and Somers sites. That proposed closure also has been controversial, and the county has put the Lakeside closure on hold until the Bigfork site is resolved, Prunty said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.