The Grunderville landfill officially closed in 2022, but its potential lives on.

Since the site’s closure county officials have been discussing recreational uses due to its location on Grunderville Road next to the Allegheny River. This site is owned by the Allegheny National Forest but leased and maintained by Warren County.

The county has been responsible for keeping the closed landfill cells mowed to keep trees from growing on the former landfill site, but the site has remained unused.

“This is a request to the Forest Service to transfer this to the county, which would then open the county to some economic development opportunities, although no details have been worked out at this point. It’s the first step in the county positioning itself to better utilize this closed landfill site,” said Warren County Commissioner Dan Glotz.

The site would be transferred to the Warren County Commissioners and not the redevelopment authority.

Glotz has been involved with the Grunderville Landfill since before his election as a county commissioner. As the former county planner, Glotz was involved in the lengthy process to close the landfill. As of 2022, the landfill site was restored to a big, wide open area, which at the time had one concrete cylinder coming out of the ground.

The landfill has been closed since 1992 and funds were set aside in a $487,000 closure fund to ultimately address the final closure of the facility, with money left over to be used for conservation, environmental remediation and recreation.

The planned request of the Allegheny National Forest was discussed at the time the landfill closed, with county officials in 2022 planning to ask to have the property transferred to the county in some capacity.

“Through the discussions we’ve had with them,” former county commissioner Jeff Eggleston said in 2022, “the ANF has kind of alluded to or put on the table us taking over the property, bequeathing it to us.”

At the time, Eggleston discussed several potential development ideas for both the landfill site and the former Birdsall Edey Girl Scout camp that has been closed since the 1930s, including an amphitheater, frisbee golf, trails, rehabilitating the camp for camping use and a CCC museum.

“I see a mountain of opportunity,” Eggleston said in 2022. “It’s a really gorgeous spot. “There’s always money at the state and federal level for these kind of projects. I think it creates a lot of potential for pulling down grant funds and doing something bigger with it.”