As landfill owner Gordon Doerle prepares to file a lawsuit against Iberia Parish regarding an Iberia Parish Council ruling against his business, the nearly two-year-old Iberia Parish litigation against Doerle continues.

On June 20, 2006, the parish sued Doerle. Assistant District Attorney Eric Duplantis said Doerle intended to build a pickup station, now called a non-processing transfer station, at his 614 Coteau Road landfill location.

“He said he didn’t have to apply for a permit for this, but the parish said he did,” Duplantis said.

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The parish lawsuit against Doerle stated he was operating his facility in violation of the denial of his permit by the Parish Council. The lawsuit is proceeding, although no future court dates have been set.

“We’ve had a couple of pre-trial conferences and the negotiations are ongoing,” Duplantis said. “We agree on most of the facts. It’s the law we don’t agree on. The issue is whether or not he has to get this permit, and whether the permit denial was valid.”

Doerle agrees the issue revolves around the interpretation of the law.

“Iberia Parish has no zoning, and we have a letter from the Louisiana Attorney General saying that it’s unconstitutional to try to zone one kind of business and have nothing like that for the rest of the parish,” Doerle said.

Doerle said he follows the state Department of Environmental Quality regulations for his type of facility.

“They are saying we’re a transfer station, but the state and DEQ regulations say I’m a pickup station and I’m following those rules,” Doerle said.

Its Coteau Road location near the main runway of Acadiana Regional Airport. Airport Director Jason Devillier said he is concerned that Doerle’s landfill poses a safety risk. The concern is birds, which tend to gather around waste disposal sites, pose a danger to approaching and departing aircraft if the landfill is expanded.

“ARA spends a lot of time and effort to discourage them from roosting at the airport,” Devillier said. “There is also a concern regarding objects penetrating the airspace above the landfill.”

Devillier also addressed Doerle’s assertion that the parish is “trying to change the terminology to override what the state law has rules for, referring to pickup type waste disposal facility versus a transfer station.

“The FAA Advisory Circulars, which we must follow as a condition of receiving federal grant money, are specific regarding landfills,” Devillier said. “The issue is the landfill is picking up, or transferring waste in a facility that is not enclosed and storing the waste in vehicles that are not enclosed.”