County proposes Green Owl panel

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners are looking for residents interested in serving on an advisory committee for the Green Owl trash site relocation project.

The county is proposing a five- to seven-member board to investigate potential relocation sites and make recommendations to the commission. Applicants must live within a three- to five-mile radius of the existing Green Owl site on Peninsula Road.

Up to 100 residents attended a public workshop in Priest River on the proposal earlier this month. Many workshop attendees urged the county to abandon a plan to relocate the site the 1200 block of Peninsula Road, which would put it closer to Highway 57.

The county seeks to close the existing Green Owl site because of illegal dumping and an inability to expand the facility so it can be staffed with an attendant.

But scores of residents turned up at the workshop to depose the plan to move it closer to the highway because it would put it closer to their homes. Many at the workshop urged the county to simply close Green Owl, which would force people to use an existing site in Oldtown and two others south of Priest Lake.

Commission Chairman Joe Young hopes a diverse committee will be formed, one which is open to a variety of relocation options, not just opponents the plan to shift Green Owl down the road.

Other sites under various degrees of consideration include Blue Lake and a sand pit near the junction of East River and Peninsula roads, also known as the Stewart property.

The relocation committee is expected to meet on a monthly basis, although it could be bi-monthly for the near future.

“In the beginning, we should meet two times a month,” Solid Waste Director Leslie Marshall said.

Those interested in serving on the committee are asked to apply through the Bonner County Commissioner’s Office, 1500 U.S. Highway 2, Sandpoint, ID. 83864. Those with questions about the project can call Bonner County Public Works at 255-5681.