Mayor, Residents Relieved Plan For Morton Grove Waste Station Was Nixed

After Lakeshore Waste Services sent out a press release late Friday announcing it was dropping plans to apply for a waste transfer station in Morton Grove, the mayor and an organizer of a citizens' group expressed relief.

"This has been a very tumultuous three weeks," said Mayor Dan Staackmann. "I am happy that Lakeshore has decided to relent on building a full blown transfer station. I hope whatever they decide will be palatable for the community."

Earlier:

Tom Maddex, who helped galvanize neighbors near Lakeshore's property into the Citizens to Stop The Morton Grove Transfer Station, said, "We weren't surprised, because we received communication from Josh Connell (of Lakeshore Waste Services) last week. He said he wanted to meet with our group."

When the citizens' group inquired why, Maddex related, Connell replied that he was considering not applying for a waste transfer station, and might go with a recycling center instead.

While they were in the process of trying to set up a meeting, Lakeshore issued the press release saying it was not going to apply for the transfer station.

Maddex said his group is interested in finding out more about alternative ways Lakeshore might use the site, and still wants to meet with Connell.

"Depending on what's being done, we have to decide whether to continue our battle or not," Maddex said. 

On Friday evening, Maddex forwarded the following letter, which the citizens' group planned to send to Connell at Lakeshore:

Dear Josh: 

 On behalf of the Citizens to Stop the Morton Grove Transfer Station and fellow community members, we would like to thank you for listening to the concerns of everyone and deciding not to pursue plans to develop a Waste Transfer Station.   It is important that you know, we never wanted to chase you or your company away. We welcome businesses to our community and we do our best to provide support where we can.  We realize Waste Transfer Stations are located near residential areas in Chicago and Cook County, but that doesn't mean that they are accepted by their surrounding communities. This Community choose to speak up against the Transfer Station, not Lakeshore Services or Josh Connell. We know that you took the heat on behalf of your company, your company is one of the most important things in your life, we can certainly appreciate that, but we stood up (to) the Transfer Station for the same reasons.   We are still interested in meeting with you next week to discuss your alternate plans.   

Sincerely,   

 Tom Maddex

 Citizens to Stop the Morton Grove Transfer Station

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