Challenge to Chittenden Solid Waste District Landfill Defeated

On November 13, 2009, the Vermont Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that denied a challenge by a group of Williston residents to the proposed Chittenden Solid Waste District (“CSWD”) landfill.  The Williston residents, all neighbors to the proposed landfill, sued CSWD and the Town of Williston arguing that the Host Town Agreement for the landfill between Williston and CSWD was void because it constituted an illegal delegation of municipal authority and lacked a termination date. 

CSWD, represented by Burak Anderson & Melloni, PLC, and the Town of Williston, successfully defended the Host Town Agreement as a valid, legislatively authorized contract for the development of an environmentally sound waste disposal facility.  CSWD and the Town also defeated the neighbors’ challenge to the contract’s failure to include a termination date because, in the words of the Supreme Court “[t]he necessarily limited lifespan of a landfill is a reasonable proxy for the contract’s length, even if the exact date on which a landfill reaches its capacity cannot be precisely determined.”

The Supreme Court’s full opinion in Gade v. Chittenden Solid Waste District, 2009 VT 107, Docket No. 2008-462 (Vt. Sup. Ct., Nov. 13, 2009) can be found here.