Date of Award:

5-2010

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)

Department:

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Committee Chair(s)

John C. Ellsworth

Committee

John C. Ellsworth

Committee

David Bell

Committee

R. Ryan Dupont

Abstract

Planning for closure requires in depth analysis into many operational, environmental, and social factors. Ideally, the planning process should resolve as many of the technical, social, and aesthetic requirements as possible by systematically addressing the various elements that influence the final design. This research identified the significant issues related to planning for the end use of the current Logan landfill after it reaches capacity in 18-20 years and the associated lagoons and wetlands. The current closure plan calls for simply recontouring the landfill to stabilize the slopes, then revegetating. The location of the site has serious implications for environmental impact yet offers positive opportunities for consideration of alternative end uses.

This research includes a professional visual resource analysis of the landfill for specific future time periods. The study follows generally accepted procedures to complete a visual analysis of the current proposed landfill closure plan and selected potential alternative end uses. Based on the research analysis and results reported here, the following conclusions are supported:

• The Logan landfill will reach full capacity in less than 20 years
• There is a need to plan for the appropriate end use of this facility
• There is an excellent landfill planning process appropriate to this need
• Several alternative end uses have been implemented on landfills nationally and internationally -- several of these are suitable for the Logan landfill
• There is a visually preferable alternative (the Environmental Education Center, or EEC) to the currently planned end use
• The EEC, with associated facilities (i.e. sewage lagoons, effluent polishing wetland, constructed and proposed mitigation wetlands, Cutler reservoir), presents a highly
desirable alternative to the currently planned end use

Checksum

0452356f9cf15d4af528dcc53291388a

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on August 30, 2010.

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