In 2016, uproar from the Solon Township Board about a recycling drop-off center in Cedar led Leelanau County to invest nearly $30,000 in the site to keep the township from closing it. Fast-forward more than six years and many of the same arguments are playing out once more, with the Cedar recycling site again nearing a contract expiration and the Solon Township Board again thinking about closing the site down for good. 

First, some background: The Leelanau County Solid Waste Council (LCSWC) leads many recycling initiatives in Leelanau County, thanks to funding from Public Act 69 of 2005 (PA 69). PA 69 was state legislation that enabled counties to levy a small tax on local property owners to pay for recycling, composting, and/or hazardous household waste collection services. In Leelanau County, PA 69 manifests as a $29-per-household charge levied as part of the winter tax bill. That money then allows the LCSWC to maintain recycling drop-off locations throughout the county, as well as offer special pickups or drop-offs for hazardous waste, mattresses, tires, and other difficult-to-recycle items.

Currently, the LCSWC operates nine recycling locations throughout Leelanau County. One is the Solon Township site, located near the boat launch at Victoria Creek Community Park in Cedar. According to LCSWC Councilmember Andy Gale, that site has long been “one of the most heavily used” of Leelanau’s recycling sites. “We did an estimate on it that showed it’s used something like every 90 seconds in the summer,” he says.

Despite that popularity – or perhaps because of it – the Cedar site has long been a subject of ire for the Solon Township Board. That controversy came to a head in 2016, when Solon Township made an ultimatum to the county: Pony up $28,000 to pay for repairs and improvements to the site, or lose the right to use the location as a recycling drop-off. In a 2016 report by the Traverse City Record Eagle, Solon Township Supervisor James Lautner argued that, since the Cedar recycling site is used not just by residents of Solon Township but also by people who live in surrounding townships like Centerville, Cleveland, and Kasson, Solon Township alone shouldn’t have to bear the cost of upkeep.

“Solon Township is not going to put money into a county program that more people use than just the residents of Solon Township,” Lautner told the Record Eagle at the time. (Lautner remains Solon Township supervisor today.)

After considerable back-and-forth between the Township Board, the LCSWS, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners, the latter body voted in 2016 to spend $25,000 on the Cedar site. American Waste (now GFL) kicked in another $3,000 to reach the full $28,000 request from Solon Township, which asked that the county build a perimeter fence and a 1,900-square-foot concrete pad on-site.

According to Gale, the county did acquiesce to most of those requests – or at least attempted to. “[The recycling center] has a fence around it now, which cost the county about $25,000,” he says. “We did try to put concrete in there, even though the waste haulers basically told us, ‘We don’t want to concrete slab, because concrete cracks, and then it makes a huge sound when you drop the dumpsters back on it.’ So we tried to put concrete in, but it didn’t work.”

Despite those efforts, Gale says the Solon Township Board hasn’t been swayed. “They’ve always had a problem with this location,” he tells the Leelanau Ticker. “And they’ve brought up some valid points over the years. At last year’s meeting, for instance, they told us they wanted to have a security camera up there. So we installed a security camera, and now we can keep an eye on the site in case someone drops off something that they’re not supposed to. And they’ve also complained that recycling sometimes blows off into the parking lot, or even into the trees or the river. So we started a new program where we have ambassadors who actually went go out several times a year and do a thorough cleanup. So, the Solon Township Board does bring up valid points, but I’d like to think that the LCSWC is then coming up with solutions for those points.”

While the LCSWC is pursuing a new one-year lease with Solon Township for the Cedar property, Gale’s expectation is that days are numbered for that drop-off spot. “They want [the recycling site] gone,” he says of the Solon Township Board. “It seems like, at every township meeting, they spend 20 minutes just complaining about it and how unsightly it is.”

Gale also thinks the township has plans for the park that could eventually preclude the recycling center from being there anyway. “Eventually, they’re looking at putting in some facilities there, like bathrooms, maybe a little store on the river, an improved space for people to launch their boats, stuff like that,” he says. “I think they want to make the river on both sides more of an investment area, and that’s great. That would be a good reason to move the recycling site.”

The county's contract with Solon Township for the boat launch site expires at the end of the year. And while Lautner did not respond to the Leelanau Ticker’s requests for comment about the recycling center’s future, Gale expects the LCSWC will need to look for a new location.

That search is underway, with the LCSWC considering multiple options. One possibility, Gale says, is a vacant piece of property in Cedar, located to the west of the post office. That land is privately owned, which would mean some hoops to jump through. It’s also a low-lying property with nearby wetlands, which Gale notes would likely trigger approval requirements from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).

Another alternative is a county-owned parcel in Maple City, which would streamline matters with property leasing/acquisition and EGLE approvals, but also take the recycling drop-off site out of Cedar.

As the LCSWC weighs its options, Gale is hopeful that Solon Township will at least agree to let the council establish a month-to-month lease arrangement until it can find a replacement spot.