Harvard Road Refuse Site

The Harvard Landfill is at 7720 Harvard Avenue in the Garfield Heights and Cuyahoga Heights neighborhoods of Cleveland. The landfill consists of an operating construction and demolition debris (C&DD) landfill, a closed C&DD landfill, and a closed municipal solid waste landfill located within the jurisdiction of the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County health departments. The landfills are located on both sides of Mill Creek with steep embankments that drop 50 to 100 feet down to the creek. In some locations, the landfill contents are exposed on the current landfill embankments that drop to the creek bed. One concept that has been proposed for landfill closure is the routing of Mill Creek through a culvert and placing fill above the section of the creek bed that would be modified.

The fill required for this site-closure strategy would be substantial and is estimated to require more than several million cubic yards of imported material. The OEPA has indicated that routing Mill Creek through a culvert and eliminating aquatic habitat would potentially violate Ohio law developed to prevent the degradation of the State’s water resources (OAC Chapter 3745-1-05 (C) (1)). This landfill closure plan would require an environmental review, and if permitted, is expected to require significant engineering associated with the culvert design and environmental mitigation costs for loss of the State’s water resources. With the potential for significant environmental mitigation costs, noncompliance with State environmental law, and current lack of OEPA regulatory support for the proposed project, this alternative is not currently deemed feasible.

Excerpt from the Evaluation of Beneficial Use Suitability for Cleveland Harbor Dredged Material: Interim Capacity Management and Long-Term Planning of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, August 2011.

Skills

Posted on

November 4, 2022

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