The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved final closure of the Grunderville landfill.

But that doesn’t mean in excess of $500,000 that make up a closure fund will be released tomorrow.

Commissioner Jeff Eggleston said there are still a “lot of hoops to jump through.”

Located in Pleasant Township, the landfill sits on the hillside above the Allegheny River along US 62.

According to a letter from DEP dated April 16, the landfill’s final closure certificate “will become effective” once activity and use limitations are “memorialized in either a special use permit from the Allegheny National Forest” or included as an “environmental covenant” with the property deed.

In addition to that covenant, Eggleston explained that the groundwater monitoring wells must be capped, the issue of mowing has to be addressed and he continues to work on potentially transferring the property — part of the ANF — to the RDA for potential recreation development.

He said there is currently almost $700,000 in the closure fund account. Taking care of all the closure items could bring that down to “somewhere above $500,000.

“It’s important to note this money is currently being used to subsidize current recycling drop offs at 5 locations, so it’s important we maintain those,” he added.

“After the cost of the closure and the bond are taken out, the remainder of the money is the Solid Waste Authority’s,” he said. “The County is working on proposals for how that money would be utilized, and the idea would be to ask the Solid Waste Authority to work with us on appropriating that money. So, there’s still a lot to do.”

While a proposal to establish a county-wide recycling program with the funds is off the table, Eggleston has since recommended the funds be placed in the county’s endowment. Revenue from that funding would then be used to maintain the site, help the remaining municipalities that have recycling options and help fund the Redevelopment Authority’s efforts.

When this will all be wrapped up remains unclear.

“It’s going to take a couple of months for the bid process to find a contractor and clean the site up,” Eggleston said. “I would say we should have this buttoned up by the fall and prepare the money to be utilized next year.”

Last October, the commissioners approved a proposal to develop a conceptual plan for the landfill site as well as the adjacent Birdsall Edey Girl Scout Camp.

In a report dated Oct. 12 regarding a “conceptual plan proposal for county park,” Mackin Engineers & Consultants, the consultant for the recreation plan, details the possibilities.

“The 398-acre site is comprised of the 126-acre County landfill (currently owned by the Allegheny National Forest and ceased landfill operations in 1992) and the adjacent 272-acre former Girl Scout Birdsall-Edey Camp.”

A number of possible options for the future are identified in that proposal — river access, an amphitheater, disc golf, redevelopment of the cabins, organized sport fields, walking routes, parking and restrooms, among other things.

County officials have acknowledged the challenge of transferring a relatively historic site like the Girl Scout camp but have a more optimistic view on a potential transfer of the landfill site.

County Planner Dan Glotz noted that no trees can grow on the landfill out of a concern that roots would puncture the landfill’s liner.

“The ANF’s main mission is growing trees,” he said, noting the parcel is “really not of much value to the ANF to hang on to…. (There) may be some options for the future… some reuse possibilities. We have to be sensitive of the liner covering the sells (but) there’s other open land there.”