LACLEDE — Bonner County’s solid waste collection in Laclede site is shutting down today after more than 30 years of service.

The Dumpster site at the corner of Moore Loop and Riley Creek Park Road is being closed because of illegal dumping and abuse, problems which typically plague the dwindling number of unattended waste collection sites.

Unattended sites are geared toward garden variety household trash, but often accumulate decrepit furniture, construction waste and disused appliances.

The closure of the Laclede site leaves only three remaining unattended sites — Wrenco Loop, Careywood and Lakeview.

The Laclede closure will force users to use the Wrenco Loop or the Idaho Hill site in Oldtown. Bonner County Public Works Director Matt Klingler said there are plans to create a temporary site at the Road & Bridge shop on Eastside Road in Priest River, although the county is in the process of seeking a conditional use permit from the city.

The county was asked to close the site by Idaho Forest Group, which owns the ground on which the Dumpsters sit. The wood products company grew weary of ongoing abuse at the site, according to emails exchanged between the county and IFG.

Bonner County Commissioner Todd Sudick asked to move back the closure deadline as the county continued to hunt for a piece of property for a new site. Sudick said he and Klingler have spent more than six months looking for a suitable property without any luck.

Even if the county were able to find property, hire an attendant and develop a new site, it’s doubtful it could be constructed this season, Sudick said.

“(W)e would be lucky to have it up and running by the time the snow flies,” Sudick said in a June 20 email to Bob Boeh, IFG’s vice president of government affairs and community outreach.

Boeh declined the request.

“Unfortunately, we have been down this road before,” Boeh said in a reply to Sudick’s message. “We are no longer willing to put up with the non-compliance and nuisance issues.”

Klingler said the search continues for property for a new attended site in Laclede.

“We’ve been trying to find an alternative in that area and we just haven’t been able to locate one yet. But we’re still trying and working with a real estate agent,” Klingler said on Monday.

Klinger said within a couple of years, the county’s remaining unattended sites will be phased out, although he said the remote Lakeview site is largely free of abuse because residents who rely on it are fastidious about its upkeep.