This article is enacted pursuant to the Town's
home rule authority and the authority granted to towns 30-A M.R.S.A.
§§ 3001, 3002, 3007 and 3351 to 3352 and 38 M.R.S.A.
§§ 1304-B and 1305.
All terms not specifically defined herein or in §
150-3 of this chapter shall have their ordinary meaning. Words used in the present tense include the future, and the singular includes the plural.
ACCEPTABLE WASTE
All solid waste of the type presently accepted at the landfill
used by the municipality, including all ordinary household, municipal,
institutional, commercial and industrial wastes, with the following
exceptions:
A.
Demolition or construction debris from building
and roadway projects or locations;
B.
Liquid wastes or sludges;
C.
Abandoned or junk vehicles;
D.
Hazardous waste, that is, waste with inherent
properties that make it dangerous to manage by ordinary means, including
but not limited to chemicals, explosives, pathological wastes, radioactive
wastes, toxic wastes and other wastes defined as hazardous by the
State of Maine, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976,
as amended, or other federal, state or local laws, regulations, orders
or other actions promulgated or taken with respect thereto;
E.
Dead animals or portions thereof or other pathological
wastes;
F.
Water treatment residues;
J.
Discarded white goods, including but not limited
to freezers, stoves, refrigerators and washing machines.
COLLECTION FACILITY
A building or container or designated area in which acceptable
waste is deposited and temporarily stored for transshipment to the
Energy Recovery Facility, sometimes referred to herein as the "Transfer
Station."
DISPOSAL FACILITY
The facility designated by the municipal officers as the
storage and/or disposal site for:
A.
The following types of unacceptable waste:
(2)
"White goods," including but not limited to
stoves, refrigerators and other household appliances.
B.
Acceptable wastes which cannot be transferred
to the Energy Recovery Facility or an alternate facility designated
in accordance with the Town's waste-handling agreement.
ENERGY RECOVERY FACILITY
The facility designated herein which processes and recovers
energy and/or useful material from acceptable waste generated in the
Town.
UNACCEPTABLE WASTE
The exceptions referenced in Subsections A through J of the
definition of "acceptable waste" in this section and all industrial
waste and sewage treatment plant sludge.
The Town hereby designates the Maine Energy
Recovery Company facility located in Biddeford, Maine, as its Energy
Recovery Facility for the purposes cited in this article.
The accumulation, collection, transportation
and disposal of acceptable waste and unacceptable waste generated
within the Town shall be regulated in the following manner:
A. No person, firm, corporation or any other legal entity
shall revoke, take away or otherwise transport, for any reason, any
waste or any portion thereof deposited at the Wells Transfer Station
or at a disposal facility, except as specifically authorized by the
municipal officers.
B. The municipal officers shall, from time to time, enact
regulations and establish fees with respect to depositing and sorting
waste at the Transfer Station or Disposal Facility.
C. Due to the restrictive nature of the contract between
the Town and the Energy Recovery Facility, which places limits on
the amount of acceptable waste which may be transported from the Collection
Facility to the Energy Recovery Facility at the favorable tipping
fee, and because the Town subsidizes the tipping fee paid at the Energy
Recovery Facility, the Town accepts only waste generated within the
Town of Wells at the Transfer Station. Due to space limitations, the
foregoing restriction shall also apply to the Disposal Facility.
D. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
demolition or construction debris from residential building and roadway
projects may be deposited at the Disposal Facility by residents of
the Town of Wells or their contractors in volumes and in vehicles
as permitted by regulation of the municipal officers. A fee for such
deposits shall be established by the municipal officers following
notice and a public hearing.
This article shall be administered by the municipal
officers. Their powers and duties are as follows:
A. To adopt reasonable rules and regulations as needed
to implement and enforce this article, including but not limited to
regulations governing the types and characteristics of vehicles used
to transport waste; governing use of the Collection Facility and methods
for handling acceptable waste and demolition debris and rejecting
unacceptable waste; establishing a procedure for identifying the contractor(s)
eligible to haul waste from the Collection Facility to the Energy
Recovery Facility and excluding others from hauling to the Energy
Recovery Facility on behalf of or under the authorization of the municipality;
and for monitoring compliance with this article and regulations adopted
to implement it.
B. To consider all license applications and to grant
or deny each application within 45 days after receipt of a completed
application by the Town Clerk at the municipal offices or within such
other time as the municipal officers and the applicant shall agree
is reasonable.
C. To review any alleged violation of this article and
to impose appropriate penalties therefor after notice and hearing
as required by this article.
D. To institute necessary proceedings, either legal or
equitable, to enforce this article.
Any license issued may be suspended or revoked by order of the municipal officers after benefit of a hearing in accordance with the procedures in §
150-95 for the following causes:
A. Violation of this article.
B. Violation of any provision of any state or local law,
ordinance, code or regulation which relates to the provisions of this
article.
C. Violation of any license condition.
D. Falsehoods, misrepresentations or omissions in the
license application.
The municipal officers may, on written application,
grant a waiver from a specific provision of this article in a specific
case subject to appropriate conditions where such waiver is in harmony
with the general purpose and intent of this article and the agreement
between the Town and the Energy Recovery Facility.
The provisions of this article shall supersede
all other local laws, ordinances, resolutions, rules or regulations
contrary thereto or in conflict therewith.
This article may be amended in the same manner
as any other ordinance of the municipality, subject to the contractual
obligations outlined in the contract between the municipality and
the Energy Recovery Facility.
This article shall become effective upon adoption
or amendment. Any person, firm or corporation required to obtain a
license hereunder shall have 60 days from the date of adoption or
amendment to secure such license or amended license as may be required,
which shall become effective on the date specified therein.