The University volunteered last week to pay a percentage of the cleanup costs for the Ivy Road Landfill, citing its waste contributions and ending a standoff between the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle over the funding of the project.
An agreement between the University, the City and the County has the University paying 7 percent of the cleanup costs per year for the next 30 years. The estimated cost of the cleanup, adjusted for inflation, is $42 million, making the University's portion close to $3 million over 30 years.
The Ivy Landfill, also called the Material Utilization Center, is operated by the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth, and has been closed since 2001.
According to Tom Frederick, Rivanna Solid Waste Authority exective director, the University agreed to contribute to the remediation of the site even though it had no legal obligation to do so.
Frederick said remediation of the landfill is necessary due to concern for groundwater at the sight.
The agreement comes after a standoff between the City and the County over how much of the cost each should contribute. According to Frederick, neither the City nor the County thought they should pay more than 33 percent and 60 percent respectively.
The City and County disagreed over the amount each should contribute based on the changing demographics of the area over the past 30 years.
"The City and the County started at very different places," Albemarle Director of Community Development Mark Graham said. "We originally thought the split should be 50-50."
The disparity in figures can also be attributed to the difficulty of assessing the exact waste contributions of the City and County.
"It's an educated guess on everyone's part," Graham said.
The University broke the deadlock by proposing to pay the remaining 7 percent, acknowledging its use of the landfill over 33 years.
"Our intention is to try to be a good corporate citizen and to contribute our fair share," University spokesperson Carol Wood said.
The figure of 7 percent comes from estimates of the University's waste contributions to the landfill.
"We want to commend the University for agreeing to take part in these negotiations," Frederick said.
According to Frederick, remediation of the landfill is already in its implementation phase, which is projected to continue until 2035.
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