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The organization that handles recycling in central Blair County this week accepted 475 acres adjacent to its compost facility near the Buckhorn from the long-dormant county Solid Waste Authority.
The move complements the 2012 transfer to the Intermunicipal Relations Committee of the 22 acres on which the compost facility itself is located.
Authority members, who discussed the possible land transfer in January and at a meeting this month, have signed the deed transfer to make the conveyance official. But the IRC will wait to record the deed until Altoona City Council adopts an ordinance to formally accept the ground, in keeping with city requirements.
The ordinance adoption is likely to take place April 10.
The other two municipal members of the IRC -- Hollidaysburg and Logan Township -- do not require their elected leaders to approve such an ordinance, according to Dan Stants, solicitor of the IRC, which is a council of governments.
The transaction requires the nominal payment of $1.
An employee in Stants' law office will conduct research to determine whether the mineral rights for the land come along with the deed or whether they've been severed, and are in the possession of another party.
There is "coal clause" language in the deed, but that isn't a definitive indication of mineral rights severance, because Cambria County, where part of the ground is located, requires it in either case, Stants said.
If the mineral rights are owned by another party, it could theoretically limit how the IRC can use the property, although for now, the plan is to use it only for storage space, according to Stants and IRC Executive Director Brock Bryan.
There's no immediate need for expansion of the compost operation, Bryan said.
The newly accepted acreage is behind and to the sides of the acreage on which the compost facility is located on Black Snake Road, officials said.
The tract consists of woodlands and previously strip mined ground, said IRC Chairman Jim Patterson.
There are passive acid mine drainage treatment ponds on the site, officials said.
The IRC took over the county's solid waste responsibilities because the county eliminated the department devoted to them, after a 2007 Superior Court ruling that ended the county's collection of a tipping fee that funded department operations and the subsequent exhaustion of department reserve funds.
The court ruled that the state's solid waste law, Act 101, didn't allow for the county tipping fee.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.