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County officials studying uses for the former Gude Landfill are requesting funding from the County Council to hire a consultant to look into placing a school bus depot on the Derwood site.

David Dise, director of the county's Department of General Services, and Diane Schwartz Jones, assistant chief administrative officer to the county executive, told members of Gude Landfill Concerned Citizens at a meeting last week that more in-depth studies of the site need to be completed to determine if it is suitable for 392 school buses.

An initial study of the site conducted by SCS Engineers of Reston, Va., last year concluded there was insufficient space for the bus depot.

The county wants to move a bus depot located on Crabbs Branch Way in the County Service Park to the Gude Landfill property in order to free up land for residential development around the Shady Grove Metro station. Thirty-five acres of the more than 100-acre former landfill site have been identified as usable.

But the citizen's group, comprised of residents in the three nearby Derwood Station and Hollybrooke homeowner associations to work with county officials to investigate and perhaps halt the proposed depot relocation, say residents are worried about traffic, noise and safety.

Residents had been told years ago that the Gude Landfill would eventually be developed into parkland, but county officials say the land is too unstable.

Julia Tillery, a member of the Gude Landfill Concerned Citizens, said at the Nov. 3 meeting the group has been studying the landfill and is worried.

"Some of the information that we've come up with is disturbing," she said, adding gas emissions from the site combined with an ignition source like a school bus could lead to explosions.

Dean Dozier, a member of the group who is also a geologist and a landfill emergency manager, said the land is still unstable.

"To come in and build a structure on that is going to exacerbate that differential settling," he said.

Jones said the county would not do anything to endanger the community.

"We have no interest in building something that will cause an explosion anywhere," she said.

Dise added the county is not out to "destroy Derwood."

The traffic, environmental and feasibility studies that the county is asking for at the Gude Landfill are part of a larger funding package that is slated to be submitted to County Council staff this week, Dise said Monday. Other studies will be conducted at the county sites that are slated to receive County Service Park facilities.

Neither Jones nor Dise could provide the amount of funding that would be requested.

The package is scheduled to be introduced to the County Council Tuesday, Dise said. The county hopes to secure funding by the end of next month and hire a consultant for the landfill by January.

If the consultant says the site is suitable and funding is available for construction, the school bus depot could be completed on the landfill site within the next three years, Dise said.

Residents will join county staff in selecting the consultant and suggesting the scope of work the consultant will provide and be allowed to review study reports, Dise said.

"We are doing that in an effort to be very open with the community about what we are hearing and seeing," he said.

Tillery said Gude Landfill Concerned Citizens has appointed Bob Day and Dozier as the community's liaisons.

The group appreciates the chance "to frame the next study," she said.