Boone County is taking its first steps to potentially expand the Bavarian Waste Landfill in Walton.
The Bavarian Waste Landfill, the lone landfill in Boone County, is located at 12764 McCoys Fork Rd., directly off Interstate 71. The 461-acre landfill has a carrying capacity of over 11 million tons. According to the 5-Year Solid Waste Management Plan, which was approved in 2023, over 9 million tons of solid waste have been disposed of in the landfill to date.
On Tuesday, the fiscal court approved an interlocal cooperation agreement and cooperative partner agreement between Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties regarding the potential expansion of the landfill. The three counties oversee the landfill through the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area.
The Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area is a tri-county organization responsible for managing solid waste within its respective boundaries. The organization’s board is comprised of the judges/executive of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, along with a commissioner from each county.
Boone County Engineer Rob Franxman said that after reviewing the previous interlocal cooperation agreement and cooperative partner agreement, county staff found “unclear, expired or unaddressed information.”
“Specifically, the operating agreements have not previously defined the exclusive rights of Boone County to independently negotiate the statutorily required landfill host agreement,” Franxman said.
In essence, Boone County feels that the previously agreed-to documents aren’t clear enough to say that it has control over the landfill expansion process. Therefore, the county’s administration is seeking to adopt updated versions of the agreement so it can initiate the expansion.
“As a result of the review, county administration is recommending the adoption of updated versions of both the interlocal cooperation agreement and a cooperative partner agreement between the three counties,” Franxman said. “These modernized documents will govern the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area.”
Expansion of the landfill would require a multi-step process, according to Franxman. The next steps are for the updated agreements to be approved by the fiscal courts of Kenton and Campbell County.
“Ultimately, the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area will convene and they’ll adopt a resolution to look at the plans and the expansion – look at the Solid Waste Plan and the expansion itself,” Franxman said.
After that, the updated plans will be sent to the state of Kentucky, then back to the Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area and the three county fiscal courts for approval. Once approved, the formal expansion process will begin.
Commissioner Chet Hand asked if the process involves coordinating with the Boone County Planning Commission.
“Does this go through the planning commission at all or does it go from the Solid Waste Management Area directly to the court?” Hand asked.
Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore responded by saying he doesn’t believe it does because of the way the land is currently zoned. The landfill and the surrounding parcels of land are zoned Agricultural 1 and 2, which allow for the operation of a sanitary landfill.
“Based on what we understand at this point, it does not expand outside of the current zoned land,” Moore said.