IRON MOUNTAIN — For a second time, Dickinson County commissioners denied a proposal Monday to allow a private landfill in Breitung Township to accept low-hazard industrial waste and demolition materials from all other Upper Peninsula counties.

More than a half-dozen Quinnesec residents protested the idea, previously rejected in September, to the county board Monday.

Commissioner Barbara Kramer, who serves on the county’s Solid Waste Management Planning Committee, said she was shocked to learn Friday the proposal was coming back to the county board. Kramer said she had missed a Nov. 17 meeting of the committee because of a medical appointment.

As in September, the county board heard complaints Monday from Quinnesec residents who say truck traffic already is extreme on Lincoln and Lake avenues, which connect to the Niagara Development landfill on Kimberly Road.

“Right now it’s crazy, the number of trucks going down that road,” said Dan Carlson, a Lake Avenue resident.

Larry Lindholm, meanwhile, questioned the economic development merits of a broadened landfill operation. “We shouldn’t ruin one community for the benefit of another,” he said.

The county board in September received a petition signed by 564 area residents opposing any broader operation at the landfill.

The proposed solid waste plan amendment would have allowed the importation of Type III — low-hazard industrial and demolition — wastes from all 15 Upper Peninsula counties for disposal at the Niagara Development landfill. Further, it would have allowed only 15 truckloads per day, with each truck carrying no more than 24 tons of waste.

Kingsford City Manager Tony Edlebeck, chairman of the planning committee, said the panel was recognizing “the importance of the economic development opportunities by Niagara Development LLC for repurposing the former Niagara paper mill Type III landfill.”

The committee accounted for truck traffic concerns by limiting the number of trips permitted, Edlebeck said in a memo to the board. The plan now allows Type III wastes from Dickinson County to go into the landfill with no limits on truck traffic, he said.

The county board didn’t stray from its previous position, although Commissioner Joe Stevens said it’s important the landfill stay open to serve MPG Casting Technologies, formerly Grede, of Kingsford. Current traffic at the landfill has been estimated at six to eight loads a day, mainly hauling foundry waste sand from MPG.

Kramer suggested that Verso Corp., Breitung Township and Niagara Development work together on finding a new access point for the landfill. Breitung Township, however, has gone on record in opposition to any new landfill plans.

The board also discussed the possibility of placing a cap on landfill truck traffic, regardless of the origin, but then questioned whether that move could withstand a legal challenge.

In addition to the county board, amendments to the solid waste plan must gain approval from at least seven of the county’s 10 municipalities, as well as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Niagara Development acquired the former NewPage paper mill in Niagara, Wis., and other assets, including the mill’s landfill property in Breitung Township, in 2011.

The planning committee has abandoned a proposed amendment that would potentially allow for a Dickinson County household waste landfill on the Niagara Development property. Dickinson County’s household waste has been sent to the Wood Island landfill in Alger County for more than 20 years and a contract is in place with Great American Environmental Services extending that agreement another 10 years.

Jim Anderson’s email address is janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.