Thank you, Mayor Burke, for taking a stand for the community by vetoing the proposed zoning amendment that would allow the landfill to have no height restrictions. The fight isn’t over! Thank you!
Excerpts from the article:
DUNMORE — The fight isn’t over for the Keystone Sanitary Landfill.
Mayor Timothy Burke announced Monday night he is vetoing a controversial zoning amendment that ruled the landfill is not a structure and not required to adhere to the borough’s height restriction of 50 feet in the landfill’s zoning district.
“Tonight, I am invoking my authority as mayor to veto this proposed legislation,” Burke said.
Council passed the ordinance Sept. 19 with a 4-3 vote, dealing a crushing blow to efforts to prevent the landfill’s 40-plus years expansion plans. Although the vote boosted the landfill’s plans to continue piling trash higher than 50 feet, it still needs the state Department of Environmental Protection to approve its expansion plans. The DEP has only ruled the expansion’s benefits outweigh the known and possible harms.
Council members Michael McHale, Michael Hayes, Thomas Ehnot and Carol Scrimalli voted in favor of the amended ordinance last month, which was requested by the landfill, owned by brothers Louis and Dominick DeNaples.
McHale, Ehnot and Scrimalli were all absent from Monday’s council meeting.
Overriding a veto
According to the state’s borough code, if mayors do not approve of an ordinance, they can return it with objections.
Council would have to vote with a majority plus one, or 5-2, to override the mayor’s veto. In this case, someone on council would need to change their vote. Burke also believes an override would necessitate a new public hearing. During council’s previous public hearing, residents spent nearly two hours pleading with officials not to vote for the zoning amendment.
Council President Michael Dempsey, Vice President Thomas J. Hallinan and Councilman Vince Amico voted to reject the ordinance last month, and all three said they stand by their votes after Monday’s meeting.
“This amendment is designed to benefit one and only one entity at the expense of the community at large,” Burke said. “The amendment removes or greatly diminishes the borough’s ability to protect its citizens by enforcing the borough’s zoning codes.”