AKRON, Ohio — For decades, families living in Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood say they’ve dealt with foul odors, pests, and constant truck traffic coming from the Fountain Street waste transfer station, a facility located just steps from their homes.
City leaders say a long-awaited plan to close the aging site and replace it with a modern facility is now finally moving forward.
The City of Akron announced a proposed agreement with WM that would permanently shut down the Fountain Street transfer station and build a new, state-of-the-art facility on East Archwood Avenue in East Akron. City leaders are calling the project a “once-in-a-generation” investment for the community.
Under the proposal, WM would invest more than $16 million into the new facility, which officials say will modernize waste transfer operations and address concerns residents have raised for years.
For decades, various administrations have tried to fix the issues on Fountain Street with limited progress. Akron Mayor Shammas Malik calls the agreement a generational breakthrough for Akron.
“This agreement reflects our commitment to delivering a solution that improves quality of life while modernizing essential services,” said Malik.
City leaders describe the current Fountain Street location as outdated and nearly obsolete. The site is so small that trash trucks are not fully enclosed during the transfer process. The station also sits just 60 feet away from the nearest home.
“For the folks on Betty Street, in the Middlebury area, this has been on their mind since the 1970s when this happened 60 feet from where they live, so this has been decades in the making,” said Casey Shevlin, Director of Sustainability and Resiliency for the City of Akron.
Shevlin says city staff spent months going door-to-door in East Akron gathering feedback from residents about what they wanted to see included in the agreement.
One of the biggest requests from the community was accountability.
Under the proposed agreement, WM would provide a $1 million donation over 10 years to a community improvement fund through the Akron Community Foundation. Residents from Middlebury and East Akron would help lead a board that decides how the money is spent in their neighborhoods.
The agreement would also require WM to complete annual public reports detailing operations and any potential issues involving the facility. Residents would also have access to a formal complaint process for concerns related to waste transfer operations.
"On an annual basis, they will be sharing whether they have any flags from the EPA, how much trash was hauled, and whether there are any interruptions to their service that they need to make the community aware of," said Suzie Graham Moore, Director of Economic Development for the City of Akron.
To reduce the impact on surrounding neighborhoods, the agreement also establishes designated truck routes for vehicles traveling to and from the new East Archwood facility.
The proposal was presented to the Akron City Council on Monday. If approved, WM says construction on the new East Archwood Avenue facility would take about 18 months.
Once the new facility is operational, the Fountain Street location will permanently close within 90 days. City leaders are targeting completion in 2027, a milestone many Middlebury residents say has been decades in the making.
