Waste Disposal Ordinance Constitutionality Upheld

In June 1989, Miller Matthews, board chairman and sole shareholder of Sunray Services Inc., acquired 1,850 acres near Durham, Ark., and granted Sunray an option to purchase the land. In a July 1989 letter to the county quorum court, Sunray requested site approval for a landfill. After consideration including public comment, the quorum court adopted an ordinance establishing a two‐mile buffer zone between landfills and main water sources. Then the quorum court denied the request because the site was within two miles of the Middle Fork of the White River, a main water source. Sunray sought to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional and invalid. The trial court so found on due process and equal protection grounds. However, the appeal court reversed the trial court decision and the ordinance was upheld.