In the face of stiff opposition from the area's residents, a national garbage disposal company has stepped back from its plans to create a landfill south of Mead.
An attorney for Waste Connections Inc. notified the Saunders County Board of Supervisors late Friday that it would withdraw its request for a pair of amendments that would have paved the way for the landfill.
The board will address the issue at a meeting Tuesday in Wahoo. It also will decide whether to cancel a public hearing on the topic scheduled for Sept. 20.
Even with Waste Connections backing off its original plan, the company gave no indication it expected to drop the issue permanently.
"Waste Connections will further consider the appropriate zoning district and related issues prior to refiling such a request," attorney Stephen Mossman wrote in a letter to Saunders County Zoning Administrator George Borreson.
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The Saunders County Planning Board voted earlier this month to deny a request to change zoning regulations to include "Municipal Solid Waste Landfills." The final decision rests with the Board of Supervisors.
Waste Connections has an option to buy 320 acres near Mead.
Its proposed landfill was about two miles south of the town near a feedlot, an ethanol plant and the former Nebraska Ordnance Plant -- an active Superfund site, company officials said.
The landfill would have accepted about 1,200 tons of garbage per day from the Omaha area and Saunders County, and it would have been in operation for more than 60 years.
Residents feared that the landfill would lower property values, kill off any hopes of new development and contaminate a local aquifer that serves Mead, Cedar Bluffs, Colon and Memphis. They also voiced concerns about potential odors, litter and degradation of roads by heavy trucks.
Waste Connections said a multilayer liner would have prevented contamination, and property values wouldn't have declined. It cited other landfills built by the company that have spurred development.
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 402-473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com. Journal Star reporter Zach Pluhacek contributed to this story.