McCourtney Rd. Transfer Station Renovation Project

Project Contact: Solid Waste Program Manager, David A. Garcia, Jr. 

(530)-265-1411, Email Solid Waste to Learn More 

Proposed Project 

Nevada County’s Solid Waste Division is proposing to renovate the McCourtney Road Transfer Station (MRTS) to serve the community better. The McCourtney Road Transfer Station (MRTS) provides solid waste and recycling services for the communities of Grass Valley, Nevada City, and the unincorporated areas of western Nevada County, California. Proposed improvements will address current facility challenges and future operations to accommodate growth leading to increased materials received, and customers served.
 
 Proposed Improvements Include:  

• Building a new Public Receiving Area (PRA) building to provide more unloading bays and improve unloading facility capacity and efficiency
• Adding a new access road and entrance scale facilities to reduce arrival wait time and traffic delays
• Improving site circulation to provide easier access to the household hazardous waste (HHW) and recyclables buy-back areas
• Rearranging the site to provide easier access for green waste unloading and construction demolition debris unloading
• Repurpose the existing Public Receiving Area (PRA) for organic waste (food waste) to meet the requirements of SB1383

McCourtney Transfer Station Traffic Camera

Please keep in mind that the transfer station is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The busiest traffic days at the transfer station are typically Wednesdays and Sundays. 

McCourtney Rd. Transfer Station Current Map

McCourtney Rd. Transfer Station Renovation Process

STEPS	DESCRIPTION	STATUS
1	Transfer station built	1994
2	WM Franchise Agreement •  WM commits to $5.6 million for Improvements •  Remainder County’s Share	2012
3	BOS chooses MRTS improvements over relocation	2013
4	AB1826 mandatory organics (commercial)	2014
5	Conceptual design report (HDR)	2015-2016
6	B1383 mandatory organics (residential)	2016
7	Recycling market crashes.	2016
8	Amend  WM Franchise Agreement •    2017 Hired R3 Consulting to assist with WM Negotiation  •    MRTS project •    Legislative updates (e.g. AB1826 & SB1383)	2017-2019
9	Request for Proposals for Design Firm Released	2019
10	Awarded HDR contract to begin MRTS Design on September 24, 2019, link: COUNTY OF NEVADA - File #: SR 19-0833 (legistar.com) Project Design website:mccourtneytransferstation.com	2019
11	Conducted Public Outreach - Presented at 2 Community Meetings on September 9 and 29, 2020. These were publicly noticed and 300 postcards were sent to residents directly affected by the project. These meetings were recorded and shared via the website. Staff also presented at the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission on October 8, 2020	2020
12	Permitting: the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) was circulated for a 30-day comment period from December 10, 2020, to January 10, 2021. MND approved by BOS on March 9, 2021, link COUNTY OF NEVADA - File #: SR 21-0153 (legistar.com)	2021
13	Board Approval of Plans and Specs and Authorization to  Advertise Construction December 14, 2021, link COUNTY OF NEVADA - File #: SR 21-0881 (legistar.com)	2021
14	Bid Project Early 2022, rejected all bids due to market instability and funding gap.	2022
15	Re-Bid Project November to January 11, 2022	2022
16	Board award of construction contract	Feb 7, 2023
17	MRTS Ground Breaking - Press Release	May 1, 2023
18	Phase 1 has begun. This phase focuses on earthwork and the construction of a new Public Receiving Area.	Current May 1, 2023 - May 1, 2024 (estimated)
18.1	Nevada County’s McCourtney Road Transfer Station Improvement Project began May 1, 2023. The first month of the project focused on clearing and leveling the site to prepare for construction and creating the safety infrastructure required for a project of this size.  The next phase involves dynamic compaction, residents and customers in the area will hear increased, heavy construction noise. A crane will hoist a 10- 30 ton weight and then allow it to fall creating a compacted grid pattern throughout the project site. Dynamic Compaction will take place intermittently 7 am – 6 pm and is expected to last 6-8 weeks.	June 13, 2024
18.2	The second month of the project focused on dynamic compaction, meaning a crane hoists a 50-ton weight and then allows it to fall creating a compacted grid pattern throughout the project site – look at that golf ball pattern it created! The project then required further leveling and compaction of the site to prepare for construction of the building pad. The next month or phase involves import fill of soil and compaction. Once completed, utility undergrounding will begin and allow the project’s footprint to develop	July 18, 2023
19	Phase 2: New entrance road and scale plaza.	May 1, 2024 - TBD
20	Phase 3: Old Public Receiving Area converted to green and food waste transfer facility. .	TBD - TBD