VBT Environmental Commission warned about landfill agreement

“Last year Waste Management pushed in December and wanted an agreement,” Matthew Best told the Van Buren Township Environmental Commission at its Nov. 15 meeting.
Best, deputy director of planning and economic development, referred to the fifth amendment to the landfill agreement that was publicly presented last year and then not mentioned publicly until now.
“If I find out something’s going to be put on the agenda, I’ll email you,” he said to commissioners, also asking them to email environmental questions they may have about the landfill plans. He said he would try to get the answers and get back to them.
The Waste Management plan to do away with the golf course, except for the buildings there, and expand the landfill, would double the life of the landfill, Best said.
“I’m not aware of any changes in the agreement,” Best said, referring to the agreement presented last December.
He said he really doesn’t have any information that it will be put on the township board agenda soon, but he just has “this feeling” that it will come forward in December again.
Commissioners pressed him and he insisted it was just a feeling.
When the Independent noted this is the agreement that would cause township residents to have to pay for trash pickup, Best insisted this commission should only talk about environmental matters. Economic matters would be discussed by the board, he said.
Best said his two top environmental concerns are that of odor control, which he said Waste Management has been good at, and a post-closure-use plan.
He said the landfill was not constructed to hold a ski hill, as earlier suggested, and the idea to have an evergreen farm wasn’t good because having tree roots going into the landfill liner was a bad idea.
Best said Waste Management would add another 24 to 30 years of life to the landfill with the new plan. It first got its air space amendment in 1995 and then it could begin in the current footprint, he said.
Commissioner Norm DeBuck said they will have to do wetland mitigation and Best agreed.
“Waste Management kind of snuck it in just after the new administration took over last year,” DeBuck recalled. “It was kind of suspicious.”
VBT Trustee Paul White, who sits on the Environmental Commission, suggested Best get Waste Management to come talk to the commission on the environmental side of its plan and Best said he could approach them “after they submit something.”
In other business at the one-hour-and-43-minute Nov. 15 meeting, the commission:
• Discussed the proposed Belleville Lake drawdown, tentatively scheduled for 2019. Discussion on its pluses and minuses will continue throughout 2018 and a decision will be made. Best said they are trying to do this in the right way and so it is being brought to the Environmental Commission for consideration. Best said they are thinking about lowering the lake by 3-5 feet for a week or week and a half and the whole process would take 3-5 weeks. This would be so trash can be pulled from the lake, docks and seawalls repaired, and possible killing some of the Eurasian Milfoil clogging the lake. Best said it’s possible some of the “good stuff” in the lake could be killed, too. There would be training on the drawdown and Belleville residents will be invited to the training ;
• Heard Best report on the 116-page federal MS4 Stormwater Permit he prepared and submitted to the DEQ. He said the information includes the fact that “Woods Creek [which runs along the north side of Riggs Road] is the bastion of water quality of the Huron River”;
• Heard Jeff Jahr, Jr., announce he will be leaving the Environmental Commission to take a position on the Planning Commission;
• Heard Commissioner Tony Gibson say he received a letter from the EPA saying a public hearing will be held at 7 p.m., Nov. 29, in Romulus concerning changes proposed for the deep injection well operating near Metro Airport;
• Discussed the clear cutting of trees that is being done along the lake. Chairman Dave Brownlee said property owners should be prepared to shore up the banks left vulnerable to erosion by removal of the trees. Brownlee noted there is a new lakeshore ordinance in place. “Now what?” he asked, concerning dilapidated buildings on the shore. Best replied in 2018 code enforcement will be spending more time on the water checking the shoreline out because the township now has a new police boat. Best said the township is now promoting gabion baskets instead of steel seawalls and officials are looking at what to do with Van Buren Park and French Landing Park shorelines;
• Learned Best still does not have the coal tar brochures for distribution to township residents. He said he is still trying to get them free from the Huron River Watershed Council;
• Heard Brownlee asked about Menards’ responsibility to clean Belleville Road and Best said its permit requires sweeping twice a day during construction, at noon and at the end of the day. Gibson noted there is a similar ongoing problem on the North I-94 Service Drive, just outside the asphalt plant;
• Heard Gibson asked about the pipeline that is being installed in Ypsilanti Township, “that just skirts” VBT. Best said the “Nexus” pipeline for natural gas is owned by Enbridge. It runs from Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Michigan, to Ontario. Best said the construction crew is staged in VBT in the Yost/Belleville Road area; and
• Made plans to meet early for pizza and other refreshments at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 20, followed by the regular business meeting at 7 p.m.