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San Benito County supervisors unanimously approved on Aug. 25 spending up to $250,000 from the County Solid Waste Fund for a Resource Recovery Center Transfer Station concept design and a financial analysis for constructing such a facility along John Smith Road, adjacent to the John Smith Road Landfill.
Supervisor Angela Curro made the motion to approve the request for proposal with the stipulation that staff would continue evaluating other options and return the RFP to the board before any contract is executed.
According to the staff briefing, there is no immediate fiscal impact from the action. The total cost of an additional analysis is estimated at $500,000 over two fiscal years, with remaining expenditures to be considered in future budget processes.
If the project moves forward, the estimated capital cost is between $10 million and $20 million.
When Curro asked how the facility would be paid for, staff said funding sources have not yet been identified.
The item was placed on the agenda because the latest John Smith Road Landfill Disposal capacity report estimates the landfill will reach full capacity by June 2035, leaving about 9.25 years of remaining disposal capacity.
Under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (AB 939), counties must maintain a Countywide Integrated Waste Management Plan and ensure a minimum of 15 years of disposal capacity. With fewer than 15 years remaining, the county is required to evaluate long-term solid waste solutions.
The agenda packet notes that Waste Solutions Group of San Benito, LLC—the landfill operator, which would have first denial rights to the project if approved—previously pursued a landfill expansion intended to add more than 15 years of capacity. The San Benito County Planning Commission denied the conditional use permit and recommended denial of the associated General Plan amendment in 2024. Waste Solutions Group withdrew its appeal to the county board on Nov. 5, 2025, and submitted a notice of termination of the proposed expansion.
Resurrection plan
This is not the first time the county has attempted to build a similar facility at the same location. In 2013, the county pursued what was then called a Resource Recovery Park. BenitoLink reported extensively on the hot-button issue, publishing 15 articles documenting residents’ frustration and concerns that the county was ignoring public opposition. Ranchers and homeowners along John Smith Road feared environmental impacts and damage to county roads from large numbers of trucks hauling garbage and potentially hazardous materials from outside the county.
Rancher Sally Silva wrote in BenitoLink on Jan. 26, 2014: “We are very worried about air quality, traffic, road conditions, noise quality, water contamination (the water from this site flows down toward Hollister), fire danger and wildlife habitat.”
John Basanese, who lives a mile from the landfill, was among dozens who sought answers in 2014 and questioned the idea of turning the parcel into a “moneymaker.” At the Aug. 25 meeting, he was the lone representative of that earlier effort. He told BenitoLink the supervisors ignored residents’ concerns at the time, and one supervisor—he could not recall which—publicly warned the group not to expect positive treatment if they returned with other business.
Basanese said he still has doubts about the new facility but said he was relieved the county is no longer accepting out-of-county waste.
“At least there won’t be so many trucks going through the county,” he said, echoing Curro’s concerns about heavy truck traffic she has seen on rural roads. Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki tried to reassure Curro that no garbage trucks were coming into the county.
The difference between Resource Recovery park, center
The differences between the earlier Resource Recovery Park concept and what is now being called a Resource Recovery Center are significant. There are currently 12 facilities in Central California similar to the latter, with the nearest two in Marina and Salinas.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Resource Recovery Centers and transfer stations share similar purposes. They sort and extract recyclable or reusable materials—metals, plastics, cardboard, organics, and construction debris—to boost diversion and reduce landfill use.
The Resource Recovery Park model proposed in 2013 was a larger, multi-facility complex that could include one or more recovery centers, a transfer station, recycling drop-off, composting operations, reuse and repair areas, and even small manufacturing using recovered materials.
The county purchased the John Smith Road parcel where the new facility is proposed in 1995 for $500,000, intending to own the land while a separate entity operated the business.
A 1,400-page environmental impact report raised questions about oversight and enforcement. The parcel was zoned Agricultural Productive, and the Resource Recovery Park required rezoning to a new industrial district called Public/Quasi-Public (PQP). The board declined to approve the rezoning and the project stalled.
During later land use updates, the county did rezone the property to PQP, as documented in the draft environmental impact report for the Resource Recovery Park. The rezoning, however, did not revive the project but signaled the county’s intention to reserve the land for public infrastructure. Planning Director Abraham Prado told BenitoLink on Aug. 25 that the PQP designation means the county could build whatever public facility it chooses on the site.
The landfill stopped accepting out-of-county waste on Jan. 1, 2025.
In March 2025, the San Benito County Sanitary Ad Hoc Committee revived the combined concept of a Resource Recovery Center and Transfer Station, with the Transfer Station to be located at the landfill entrance and the Resource Recovery Center across John Smith Road.
At the Aug. 25 meeting, staff said the landfill entrance location was not practical because traffic would back up onto John Smith Road and instead recommended the alternative location for the combined facility as the only logical site.
The objectives of the project, according to the staff presentation to the board, include providing long-term solid waste capacity, reducing haul trucks, increasing recycling and renewable energy opportunities, maintaining low rates for residents, building regional relationships and providing accurate cost data to the public and the board.
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County in talks with company for resource recovery park | BenitoLink
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