The Deschutes County Commission directed staff to enter negotiations for the purchase of a 440-acre gravel mine southeast of Bend called the Moon Pit to serve as the county's next landfill location. 

Five years after it set out to find a new landfill site, Deschutes County has officially decided where its trash will be dumped for the next 100 years.

The Deschutes County Commission on Wednesday morning gave unanimous approval for the county to begin negotiations for the purchase of a 445-acre gravel mine 15 miles southeast of Bend called the “Moon Pit” as its next landfill — but left open the door to switching sites should those negotiations go sour.

Development of the new landfill is expected to cost $50 million to $60 million, including $15 million for the land acquisition.

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But it will probably be several years before the county could write a check for the property, and any purchase agreement would have to return to the commission for approval, said Tim Brownell, Deschutes County Department of Solid Waste director.

The county’s current dump site, Knott Landfill, is expected to fill up by 2029. Wednesday’s vote is a checkpoint in a selection process that started in 2019, when a management plan identified the need for a new landfill. The county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee recommended the Moon Pit in April.

The Moon Pit, located along U.S. Highway 20 and the southern edge of the 30,000-acre Oregon Badlands Wilderness, was chosen because the land is already disturbed, poses fewer new risks to wildlife than other sites and lies closer to Bend than other options. It’s owned by Hooker Creek, a construction materials company.

The county held a public hearing on the site in June, and the commission had the option to approve the site at that time. The decision was put on hold to gather more information on certain aspects of the proposal.

Those potential issues remained on Wednesday. How the county will make up for impacts to nearby wildlife, obtain a water supply and how existing mining operations proceed were all “significant concerns” for Commissioner Phil Chang.

“While I have concerns about the site and there’s things that I’m going to want to see before I become a ‘yes’ vote, to move forward, I’m also comfortable proceeding with negotiations at this point to try to unpack all of that and move forward on all three of those fronts,” Chang said during Wednesday’s meeting.

He added, “If we’re not able to negotiate something for the county, I would see those as reasons to stop negotiating this site and explore others.”

Landfill operations at the Moon Pit site could require up to 100,000 gallons of water per day. But it lies within the Deschutes Groundwater Study Area, where the Oregon Department of Water Resources paused new groundwater permit applications in 2023, citing impacts to the hydrological health of the basin.

Two wells already exist on the Hooker Creek property. Commissioner Patti Adair said Wednesday she would rather see the county acquire a portion of the mine’s water rights as part of the property sale than have the county apply for a brand new water right.

“I feel like it’s incredibly critical for this transaction,” she said, urging that the county proceed cautiously with the negotiations. “We’re talking about something for 100 years. We need to do this right.”

Kristie Bollinger, property manager with Deschutes County, said the county is starting the process of working with an appraiser to pinpoint a value for the property. That gets complicated when dealing with a property like a gravel mine, Bollinger said.

Mining could continue after the county acquires the site in areas where the landfill is planning future expansion, which could subsidize landfill operations, according to a site evaluation.

Chang called water rights and mineral resources two potential “fatal flaws” of the Moon Pit.

Before the plan is approved, the county has to develop a “robust” plan to mitigate impacts to wildlife habitat, said Brownell, the solid waste director.

Commissioner Tony DeBone said Wednesday’s vote was an informed decision based on years of planning and doesn’t mean the Moon Pit is a done deal.

“We’re going to start negotiations, and if it doesn’t get concluded, it doesn’t get concluded,” he said.