Clark Cty. Solid Waste Mgt. Dist. v. Danis Clarkco Landfill Co.

• Decision Date: 31 January 1996
• Docket Number: Nos. 95-CA-67,95-CA-71,s. 95-CA-67
• Citation: 671 N.E.2d 1034,109 Ohio App.3d 19
• Parties: CLARK COUNTY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DISTRICT, Appellee, v. DANIS CLARKCO LANDFILL COMPANY et al., Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

Page 19

109 Ohio App.3d 19

671 N.E.2d 1034

CLARK COUNTY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DISTRICT, Appellee, v. DANIS CLARKCO LANDFILL COMPANY et al., Appellant.

Nos. 95-CA-67, 95-CA-71.

Court of Appeals of Ohio Second District, Clark County.

Decided Jan. 31, 1996.

Thomas E. Trempe, Clark County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Springfield, for appellee Clark County Solid Waste Management District.

Eastman & Smith, Barry W. Fissel and Dirk P. Plessner, Toledo, for appellee.

Faruki, Gilliam & Ireland, Charles J. Faruki and Jeffrey T. Cox, Dayton, for appellant.

Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, Bryan F. Zima and Joan R. Kooistra, Assistant Attorneys General, Columbus, for appellant Donald R. Schregardus, Director of Environmental Protection.

FREDERICK N. YOUNG, Judge.

Appellants Danis Clarkco Landfill Company ("Danis") and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ("OEPA") appeal from the trial court's declaratory judgment in favor of appellee Clark County Solid Waste Management District ("District").

This appeal involves two consolidated cases in which Danis and the OEPA each contest the District's authority to consider certain "siting" criteria when reviewing Danis's plans to construct a landfill in Clark County. Additionally, Danis contends that the trial court erred in not allowing more discovery and asserts that declaratory judgment was improper absent a "definite and concrete" controversy.

The appellants' claims stem from the District's March 31, 1993 adoption of two rules regulating solid waste disposal in Clark County. In relevant part, the rules required general plans and specifications for any proposed solid waste disposal facility to be submitted to and approved by the Clark County Board of Commissioners. The rules also prohibited the construction of any solid waste disposal facility not complying with the Clark County Solid Waste Management Plan. ¹ Shortly after the District's adoption of these rules, Danis submitted plans to construct a solid waste landfill in Clark County. However, Danis also disputed the District's authority to apply the county's siting requirements when determining Danis's compliance with the Clark County Solid Waste Management Plan. Specifically, Danis contended that the siting requirements in the county's plan applied only to "identified" facilities, i.e., those designated by the District as necessary to meet the District's solid waste disposal needs. Since it was not proposing an "identified" facility, Danis reasoned that it could not be subjected to the District's siting requirements. Danis also argued that the District's siting criteria, as applied, resulted in the District's establishment of design standards, a function reserved exclusively for the OEPA.

The District subsequently brought a declaratory judgment action against Danis, the OEPA, and two citizen groups. The District sought a declaration that it could require the proposed Danis landfill to comply with the siting criteria provided in the Clark County Solid Waste Management Plan. The District and the OEPA filed cross motions for summary judgment on September 16, 1994. Danis joined in the OEPA's motion on September 20, 1994, and filed its own cross-motion for summary judgment on October 21, 1994.

Thereafter, the trial court issued a two-page decision and judgment entry on June 8, 1995, granting the District's request for declaratory relief. Specifically, the trial court made the following findings:

"1. Clark County Solid Waste Management District is empowered by Ohio Revised Code Section 343.01(G) to adopt, publish and enforce Rule No. 2-393;

"2. Clark County Solid Waste Management District is empowered by Ohio Revised Code Section 343.01(G) to adopt, publish and enforce Rule No. 3-393;

"3. Having adopted and published Rule No. 2-393, Clark County Solid Waste Management District may follow the siting procedure and criteria described in Part II, Section 8.b and Appendix M of the Clark County Solid Waste Management Plan in making its determination whether the general plans and specifications of the proposed Danis Clark Landfill comply with the plan;

"4. Clark County Solid Waste Management District is required by Ohio Revised Code Section 3734.55(C)(4) to follow the siting procedure and criteria described in Part II, Section 8.b and Appendix M of the Clark County Solid Waste Management Plan in making its determination whether the general plans and specifications of the proposed Danis Clark Landfill comply with the plan "5. Any proposed sanitary landfill that is found unacceptable by 'Siting Procedure C' in Part II, Section 8, is not in compliance with the Clark County Solid Waste Management Plan."

Danis and the OEPA subsequently filed timely appeals, which we have consolidated for our review. In essence, Danis argues that the trial court erred by (1) finding Danis to be subject to the District's site evaluation process; (2) concluding that the District's siting criteria, as applied, did not require the District's impermissible consideration and application of design criteria; (3) ignoring discovery requests by Danis and awarding summary judgment based upon incomplete facts; and (4) awarding declaratory relief in the absence of a controversy. In addition, the OEPA contends that the trial court's declarations, viewed collectively, violate R.C. 343.01(G)(2)'s prohibition against districts adopting design standards. The OEPA also asserts that the trial court's ruling improperly merges the statutorily separate roles of the OEPA director and local solid waste management districts.

Rather than considering each of Danis's and the OEPA's assignments of error in turn, we will combine the arguments, when appropriate, to facilitate efficient appellate review. We start our analysis with Danis's first assignment of error, which provides:

"ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1: The trial court failed to recognize that the District has no statutory authority to apply the site identification strategy required under Ohio Rev.Code section 3734.53(A)(8) to facilities not 'identified' as needed to serve the District's capacity needs."

In this assignment of error, Danis claims that the trial court erred when it ruled that the District could apply its facility siting requirements to Danis's proposed landfill. We begin our resolution of this issue with a brief review of Ohio's legislative scheme governing solid waste disposal. Pursuant to R.C. 3734.52(A), 3734.52(B), and 343.01(A), each county in the state must maintain a solid waste management district or participate in a joint county solid waste management district. Furthermore, all territory in a county is under the jurisdiction of the county or joint solid waste management district for purposes of (1) preparing, adopting, submitting, and implementing a district solid waste management plan, and (2) providing for, or causing to be provided for, the safe and sanitary management of solid wastes. See R.C. 3734.52(A).

The solid waste management plans mentioned in R.C. 3734.52(A) must demonstrate the availability of sufficient facilities to meet a district's solid waste management needs for ten years. See R.C. 3734.53(A). To assure compliance with this requirement, R.C. 3734.53(A)(6) requires each district plan to project the yearly amount of solid waste to be disposed of in the district. Additionally, R.C. 3734.53(A)(7) requires each district plan to identify additional solid waste facilities needed to dispose of the waste projected in R.C. 3734.53(A)(6). Finally, R.C. 3734.53(A)(8) requires each district plan to include a strategy for identifying sites to place the additional facilities identified in R.C. 3734.53(A)(7).

In the present case, Danis's proposed landfill is not a facility "identified" by the Clark County Solid Waste Management District pursuant to R.C. 3734.53(A)(7). Since R.C. 3734.53(A)(8) requires a district's solid waste management plan to include a siting strategy only for identified facilities, Danis contends that the siting provision is inapplicable to unidentified facilities such as its proposed landfill. Indeed, Danis asserts that R.C. 3734.53(A)(8)'s site identification strategy relates exclusively to identified facilities. In support of this argument, Danis reasons that "solid waste management districts lack statutory authority to establish siting criteria for non-identified facilities because division (A)(8) is expressly limited to identified needed capacity facilities and no other statutory provision authorizes a district to establish facility siting criteria."

Conversely, the District argues that two legislative provisions authorize the application of its site identification strategy to nonidentified facilities. In particular, the District relies upon R.C. 3734.53(C)(2) and 343.01(G)(2). R.C. 3734.53(C)(2) provides:

"The solid waste management plan of a county or joint district may provide for the adoption of rules under division (G) of section 343.01 of the Revised Code after approval of the plan under section 3734.55 of the Revised Code:

" * * *

"(2) Governing the maintenance, protection, and use of solid waste collection and solid waste disposal, transfer, recycling, and resource recovery facilities within the district and requiring the submission of general plans and specifications for the construction, enlargement, or modification of any such facility to the board of county commissioners or board of directors of the district for review and approval as complying with the plan or amended plan of the district[.] " (Emphasis added.)

Additionally, R.C. 343.01(G)(2) states:

"To the extent authorized by the solid waste management plan of the district * * *, the board of county commissioners of a county district or board of directors of a joint district may adopt, publish, and enforce rules:

" * * *

"(2) Governing the maintenance, protection, and use of solid waste collection or other solid waste facilities located within its district. The rules...