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City Dump

by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

Neighbors in Fremont and Wallingford are up in arms over the city's plans to upgrade the North Seattle Transfer Station, Seattle's North End dump. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has started environmental review for the new facility, and neighbors are already decrying what they say is a lack of proper process. The Fremont Neighborhood Council has unanimously voted to file legal challenges if they feel SPU has not taken an adequate look at alternate sites. "They want to reconstruct the facility without considering whether it should be somewhere else," says Fremont resident Toby Thaler. "If you want a lawsuit, that's the way to do it."

The North Transfer Station has been located in the same spot—sandwiched between Fremont, Wallingford, and Gas Works Park—since 1966. "Interbay is the more logical site," Thaler says. "It's not butted up against single-family [homes]."

SPU's director of solid waste, Tim Croll, says the city needs to modernize the aging facility, and the Wallingford site makes the most sense because of its proximity to industrial land in Ballard and Interbay, as well as the freeway. The city is hoping to start construction on the new transfer station by 2012. JONAH SPANGENTHAL-LEE