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The first two workshops on the proposed Green Ridge landfill have come and gone. Now we know what the rest of the schedule looks like, when it comes to the hearings. We can also tell you when Cumberland County residents will have their chances to speak up during the meetings. 

The first two planning commission workshops in this case happened on Jan. 27 and Feb. 10. Those were meetings where commission members had the opportunity to ask questions of the Green Ridge representatives. Now instead of going straight to the hearing, there will be a third workshop on Monday, March 3, the county has announced, held at the Cumberland High Cafetorium. Starting at 6:30 p.m., this will be a joint effort with both the board of supervisors and planning commission. Because this is set to be a workshop and not a hearing, residents won’t have a chance to speak up and ask questions. This will be a time for both supervisors and planning commission members to have one final time to get questions answered. 

So that leads to the next question. When will Cumberland residents get to talk in all this? The answer is on Monday, March 17, also at the Cumberland High Cafetorium. Starting at 6:30 p.m., that will be when the public hearing on the Green Ridge proposal is held during the regular planning commission meeting. Residents will have their chance to speak, and then the planning commission can take a vote about whether or not they recommend the project for approval.

As part of the process, no matter what the commission decides, either to recommend approval or rejection, this proposal will still go on to the Cumberland board of supervisors afterward. That’s because even if the commission recommends rejection, every applicant has the ability to present their case to the Cumberland supervisors. That meeting with supervisors will take place on Tuesday, May 13, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Cumberland High Cafetorium. It will also be a public hearing, so residents will be able to speak up. 

Some more opportunities to speak up 

Now in addition to the hearings, Cumberland County staff have created an email address where residents can send questions about the Green Ridge proposal, as well as voice their opinions on it. That email is GreenRidgeComments@cumberlandcounty.virginia.gov. Anything sent to that email address will be shared with both the planning commission and the board of supervisors.

This structure, organized with meetings in March and May, will also give time for a judge to hear arguments in the court case against Cumberland supervisors. Originally scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 6, it then got delayed until Monday, Feb. 10. Then once again, the case was delayed, this time being pushed back until Wednesday, Feb. 26. 

The lawsuit involves an argument by Cumberland County Landfill Alert (CCLA), identifying itself by its legal name of Love Central Virginia Inc. The group filed a lawsuit in the fall of 2024, attempting to stop the process before the Green Ridge landfill even makes it to a hearing for a conditional use permit. They want a circuit court judge to issue an injunction, arguing that the previous board of supervisors didn’t have the authority to enter into a contract like the amended host agreement with Green Ridge that they approved in 2019. Pushing the hearings back to March and May will give the judge time to hear arguments and decide if the lawsuit needs to move forward or get tossed out.

A potential Green Ridge landfill expansion 

One of the things that irritated Cumberland residents is that during the last workshop on Feb. 10, they learned about what Green Ridge would do if federal officials grant their second permit request. 

So, to be clear, Green Ridge doesn’t have approval yet for their “initial phase”. That’s what the current set of workshops and planned public hearings is for. That initial phase would only have 104 acres out of the 1,177 acre site available for active dumping. That’s down from 650 acres in the original plan. 

But that doesn’t mean it would permanently be that size. Right now, Green Ridge doesn’t have the permits needed to build on or disturb wetlands, creeks and streams. Will Shewmake, an attorney with Woods Rogers, said in the Feb. 10 workshop if the company does get those permits, things would expand. 

That expansion would mean a jump from 104 acres to 350 total acres available for garbage disposal. It would also mean a significant increase in the size of the garbage mounds. The current application being considered by Cumberland allows trash to pile up to 140 feet above ground level. If Green Ridge gets to expand, they could go up to 225 feet above ground level. The biggest increase would be in the amount of trash brought in. The current application limits that to 1,500 tons of garbage a day. The expansion would allow them to haul in 3,500 tons per day. It would also increase the number of nearby homes impacted. With this “initial phase”, there are 37 houses within a half mile of the disposal area. With expansion, that would climb to 58 homes. 

No expansion is guaranteed 

But none of that is guaranteed. Even if Green Ridge is approved for the “initial phase” of the landfill, they would have to get state and federal permits before any expansion. As Shewmake acknowledged last Monday, any expansion plan would also mean going through the permitting process again with Cumberland County, going before the planning commission and the board of supervisors. 

Another question that has been raised repeatedly is what benefit Cumberland County gets from the property. Green Ridge went through the financials on Feb. 10, explaining the different payments the county will receive. 

Host fees for the proposal would be a minimum of $640,000 annually, with another $50,000 annually from the machinery, equipment and tools tax. A payment of $25,000 each would be made each year to the county’s Environmental Science Education Program Fund and Recreational Programs Fund. Green Ridge also claimed that they’re “paying” in another way, by allegedly saving Cumberland money through free garbage disposal for all county government facilities. They claim that will save $750,000 each year. 

The company also laid out what they claim are other ways they’re saving Cumberland residents money. That includes residents using the landfill for free waste disposal, paying for the cost of a county employee, with a $100,000 salary, to monitor the operation and the fact Cumberland would get 25 acres of land to use, once the landfill is decommissioned decades in the future. 

Green Ridge officials also laid out ways they say they’re being a “good neighbor”. That includes paying $4,271 to buy band uniforms for Cumberland County Public Schools, giving the school district another $60,000 for a scholarship fund, $250,000 to the county to develop new parks, $100,000 to the county to help with public safety, $500,000 to reimburse the county for costs related to rezoning and $500,000 to reimburse Cumberland for costs related to the rezoning process.