In consideration of the city of Riverview’s application to expand the Riverview landfill, I urge Wayne County to oppose this application request, and assist Riverview in developing a plan to transition the landfill to a healthier and more economically viable use.
As the landfill has a life of approximately 10 years remaining without an expansion, a decade is the right amount of time for Wayne County to transition into taking a visionary approach in redefining the Downriver area from heavy industry to waterfront revitalization — similar to how Wayne County has assisted the city of Detroit with revitalization of former industrial developments, through leveraging resources like the recent $750,000 grant given to the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. In conjunction with programs like the Great Lakes Way, and the hundreds of millions of dollars being allocated to Michigan by the federal government for environmentally conscious development, now is the perfect time to course-correct and pursue a more robust regional economy strategy centered around outdoor recreation, mixed-use development, and automation-proof industry, like skilled trades and renewable energy.
Nonpoint source pollution is difficult to gauge, and without a profit incentive for organizations like the landfill to perform tests of their own aside from the bare minimum required by law, the research on health outcomes associated with the Riverview landfill specifically is sparse.
If we start now, there are plenty of opportunities to keep Riverview fiscally solvent, and Wayne County government has the resources and ability to lead the way on a cohesive Downriver redevelopment vision that moves beyond heavy industry and pollution during this period of large-scale transition. With the cleanup of the former McLouth Steel site and the upcoming closure of the Trenton Channel coal burning power plant, opposing the landfill expansion is the best move for the economy, environment, and our residents.
In the same way Wayne County worked with the city of Trenton to coordinate an RFQ process for the McLouth Steel site, Wayne County should work with Riverview to seek qualified developers with a history of brownfield redevelopment who have worked on transformative projects such as this across the United States — projects like the Hudson Yards landfill redevelopment in Manhattan, and the $6.7 billion Santa Clara redevelopment on a former landfill in California that has passed the appropriate environmental and regulatory hurdles.
Now is the time to act on transforming our region’s future. We’ve seen it’s possible all over the United States and we are in the perfect position to begin right here in Downriver, Wayne County.
We’ve got one shot — let’s do it right. It’ll be worth it.
Ryan Stewart is president of McLouth Waterfront Alliance.
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Downriver has prime opportunity to correct our course by saying ‘no’ to more garbage - Southgate News Herald
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