Lane County’s planned recycling and waste diversion project, CleanLane, has hit another speed bump. A state board rejected the county’s zoning appeal last week, siding with garbage haulers and neighbors.
The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals upheld a local ruling that found CleanLane is incompatible with zoning in the proposed Goshen area location, just south of Eugene. The decision could be appealed in the new year.
In the meantime, the county is exploring moving the project to Short Mountain Landfill instead.
County Commissioner David Loveall, who opposed the contingency measure when it was approved on Dec. 16, argued during that meeting CleanLane is no longer viable because the company that hauls Springfield’s trash, Sanipac which is owned by Waste Connections, has diverted the entire city’s garbage to its own landfill.
“There’s been some red flags, business-wise, in this whole chain of events that I feel maybe we should have looked at a little harder,” Loveall said.
Loveall, who represents Springfield, and West Lane Commissioner Ryan Ceniga, have both opposed the project since it was introduced in 2023 and attempted to send it to the ballot. Commissioners Pat Farr, Heather Buch and Laurie Trieger supported the project.
Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky told commissioners he believes CleanLane will pencil out if the county collaborates with Springfield. He said that should also resolve wider budget issues caused by Waste Connections exporting Springfield residents’ trash.
“That is a broad community problem beyond this particular project,” Mokrohisky said. “If we focus our energy there and address that issue of waste exportation we don’t have a problem with the viability of the project.”
The Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association, which was one of the parties that filed legal objections to the project, and neighbors, have praised the ruling.
Steve Stewart, one of the neighbors who opposed the facility in an emailed press release to KLCC, said the county should have sited the project at their own, existing landfill all along. He and other residents argued the county had ignored its own industrial and land use codes at the cost of the neighborhoods’ quality of life.
“If any one of us attempted to do what Lane County was so fixated on, we would have been categorically denied without consideration,” Stewart wrote.
Katy Pelroy, a spokesperson for LCGRA, called the ruling a win for the rule of law and ratepayers.
“The county should take this opportunity to revisit the necessity of this very expensive project, when there is a budget shortfall and structural public safety issues that need to be addressed,” she said.
The project’s initial cost was around $150 million with the company that will build and operate the facility, Bulk Handling Systems, shouldering $100 million. Legal costs, inflation and a potential new location will likely increase CleanLane’s total cost.
Jake Pelroy, president of LCGRA, is running against Heather Buch in the May 2026 primary to represent East Lane County.
