Penn-Northwest Development Corp. Executive Director Larry Reichard can still remember the long hours he worked 17 years ago to bring the Prime Outlets to Springfield Township.

“Penn-Northwest spent two full years locating the Prime Outlets to our community,” he recalled. “A lot of work went into establishing that top quality center.”

But Reichard believes that work might be in jeopardy now that Tri-County Industries is attempting to re-open a landfill in Pine and Liberty townships, just across Interstate 79 from the outlet mall.

“(The outlets) have been an outstanding development for our area,” Reichard said. “I don’t want to see anything disrupt that.”

The landfill could be visible from the shopping complex and nearby restaurants and hotels.

“Being in eyesight of a landfill would not be conducive to the four million visitors who come to Prime Outlets every year,” he said.

Tri-County Industries has attempted to reopen the landfill for over a decade but was consistently denied by the Department of Environmental Protection based on bird/aircraft strike concerns related to the nearby Grove City Airport, which is just off state Route 208 in Springfield Township.

But DEP reversed its denial in September 2008 after Tri-County provided new bird mitigation plans that called for a full-time employee to monitor birds and the installation of a pyrotechnics system that would disperse any birds gathering at the site.

After receiving the new information, DEP concluded that the new plan to control birds at the landfill was sufficient and acceptable during its harms/benefits review.

Many businesses and organizations located near the proposed landfill have publicly stated opposition against it, citing both tourism and safety concerns. Penn-Northwest, Mercer County’s non-profit economic development organization, officially joined them with a June 9 letter to DEP stating its opposition to the reopening of the Tri-County landfill.

Reichard noted that Penn-Northwest also took an official stance against the landfill in 2005, the last time Tri-County attempted to re-open the site.

Tri-County’s application has been on hold since March 31, when DEP sent a list of 50 technical deficiencies regarding the application.

The deficiencies include further explanation of the company’s bird control plan, updated traffic studies and specifically where the landfill waste would go since there is a lack of capacity at Grove City Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The agency is currently awaiting a response from the company, which has until the end of the month to respond, according to DEP spokesperson Freda Tarbell.