WASHINGTON -- Local leaders are working to remove a private trash transfer site located in the heart of D.C.
The W Street transfer station has been in the city’s Brentwood neighborhood for three decades. However, residents who live near the site have complained that the operation has been a poor neighbor.
On hot summer days, locals say they can smell trash that emanates from the site. Other residents, who live just blocks away from the station, say they are forced to deal with more nuisance insects than people who live in other parts of the city.
"Brentwood, and the broader Ward 5 community, has really been fighting for decades, for the better part of 30 years, to either shut down the trash transfer station or to have it moved,” said DC Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie.
McDuffie supports a bill that would allow DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to acquire the W Street Northeast transfer station property through eminent domain in his ward.
The mayor supports the measure.
She wrote a letter in February to DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson that said the site could be used to help storage needs in the District.
“The District government has a significant need for warehousing and storage for equipment, records, property and supplies, and the District’s need nearly exceeds our current capacity at our owned facilities,” stated the Mayor’s letter.
McDuffie, who chairs the city’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, held a hearing Monday morning to hear the Brentwood community’s feelings about the transfer station.
Reverend Carolyn Graham, the associate minister of Israel Baptist Church, a congregation that worships near the W Street Northeast site, said she is worried about the potential environmental impact of the property on the greater community.
"We want the quality of life to be meaningful, to be healthy,” she said. “To be there for our descendants."
Frank Malone, a former ANC commissioner in both wards 4 and 5, added he feels optimistic this latest effort to remove the W Street Northeast transfer station from Brentwood will be successful.
“Because, no one has come up with a bill such as eminent domain,” he said.
Although the bill would give Mayor Bowser the authority to use eminent domain, she would not be forced to use it if the legislation were to be approved by the DC Council.
McDuffie said the city would still look for ways to negotiate with the property owner before using the eminent domain option.
"It's not my hope that we have to exercise eminent domain,” McDuffie said. “But, that there's some negotiation that might take place to allow this horribly, positioned in place, trash transfer station, to move out of that community."
As of January, the mayor’s office had not identified specific funds to use eminent domain on the W Street Northeast property, according to DC’s Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt. However, DeWitt did write in a letter to Mendelson that such an action should be financially feasible.
“Funds are sufficient in the fiscal year 2019 through the fiscal year 2022 budget and financial plan to implement the bill,” the letter reads.
The 2019 property assessments for the land DC is interested in total approximately $4.5 million, according to the city.
Multiple companies have owned and operated the W Street NE transfer station site since it first opened.
City tax property records show the site is owned by a firm named “Square 3942 Associates LP”, which shares a mailing address with a Hyattsville, Maryland business named “WB Waste Solutions”.
Over a period of several days, WUSA9 has reached out to the company for comment on the city’s efforts. But, we have yet to receive a response.
McDuffie’s legislation has not been scheduled for a vote by the full council. However, his office said they are hopeful it will be brought up for consideration before the end of session.
Reverend Graham said she is hopeful the city finds a solution as soon as possible.
"It's a major eyesore to the community,” Graham said of the transfer property. “It's a major insult to the community."