LDFA discusses noxious landfill odors from Waste Management

At the March 11 meeting of the Van Buren Township Local Development Finance Authority, LDFA member John Delaney said he has smelled noxious odors from the Waste Management landfill as he drove along I-275.
Another LDFA member, Scott Medlen of Sovereign Partners which now owns Grace Lake Corporate Center, said he has complained about the smell.
Delaney said the landfill has been processing methane and it is supposed to cover it every night, but he suspects they aren’t covering, since rain and other water increases methane.
He said the odor goes west of I-275 and along Van Born and impacts Grace Lake’s tenants and future tenants, if that is ignored. This is when prevailing winds are from the northeast.
Delaney said he can put up a drone as a private resident to see if they are covering each night, as required. He said methane is all for profit for the landfill and is an inconvenience to the residents.
“I just learned of the expansion a month ago,” Medlin said. “A notice went to the office in New York. I requested a time line for decisions.”
“It’s done. There’s nothing to stop,” said VBT Supervisor Kevin McNamara, adding there is a 500-foot buffer along Ecorse Road.
Medlen said today was really bad. He looked out the third-floor window on the east side of the Grace Lake buildings and, “I can see them dumping.”
“It is going to get closer, with two more hills, taking 20 years each,” Supervisor McNamara said. “The next 20 years they will be half way through the golf course.”
“This is going to be a problem for Grace Lake air intakes,” Delaney said. “You have no scrubbers.”
“It makes it harder to fill the place,” Medlen said, referring to tenants.
“Sea gulls eat there and immediately fly over and make a mess in the water and parking lot,” Medlen said. “You can chase the seagulls and they come back. I asked Waste Management to curb the sea gull population.
“I contacted the DNR and they said sea gulls are protected as migratory birds. If they are nesting on our property we could do something, but they are not nesting,” Medlen said.
Delaney said Waste Management is not burning the methane any more and is compounding and pressurizing it now. He said mercury, zinc, and other chemicals are potentially coming out as long as groundwater is coming in.
“I live right there and it’s in my backyard on Ecorse Road,” Delaney said.
Matthew Best, director of public service, said the buffer zone is 300 feet, then another 200 feet.
“The landfill was there before Visteon Village,” Best said, referring to the complex now called Grace Lake.
He said the smell won’t be more, but will be the same. There are things they are doing that help cut odors, Best said, adding they are working on their methane system.
“It’s actually one of the better landfills in this area,” Best said, adding he would be glad to talk to Sovereign Partners about it.
Delaney said if there is a 60-foot tree buffer, that is a misnomer because the landfill is nine times that tall and it doesn’t dispel the odor.
“Trees are not going to stop odor going into your HVAC system,” Delaney said to Medlen.
At the beginning of the meeting, chairman Michael Dotson talked about promoting the Grace Lake area and anyone with ideas should give them to him.
LDFA member David Schreiber, who is head of Wayne County Economic Development, suggested Van Buren Today magazine would be a good place for promotion and Medlen said he would follow up with the landlords there wishing to lease space.
Supervisor McNamara said the state has changed office building classifications and Grace Lake is Class A. He said there’s not another Class A in Ann Arbor or Detroit, but maybe in Southfield. That would help promote the complex.
“Make sure Aerotropolis knows it is a world-class facility in our community,” Dotson said.
Schreiber offered to introduce Medlen to the new head of Aerotropolis.
Delaney asked if the new building planned for Grace Lake has been scrapped and Medlen said he didn’t get the official word.
“It’s in limbo now,” Dotson said.
In other business at the 22-minute meeting, the LDFA:
• Was informed by Dan Selman that the meeting was one of the Informational Meetings the LDFA must hold twice a year in accordance with Public Act 57 of 2018, the Recodified Tax Increment Financing Act;
• Reviewed the 2019 Synopsis of Activities, also required by Act 57, that must be placed on the website. The original purpose of the LDFA was to finance and construct eligible public improvements for the Visteon Village project which was completed in 2004. Now the primary focus is the payment of the debt obligations as a result of those public improvements. Because of a fund shortfall in paying off the bonds, the LDFA will continue to pursue legal action against the original developer; and
• Heard Delaney refer to an attorney’s opinion from Patrick McCaulley that McNamara got to settle a disagreement at the township board table. Delaney said McCaulley gives different opinions depending on who is the supervisor. He suggested McNamara get an Attorney General’s opinion on the subject, but McNamara was not interested.
Present at the LDFA meeting, besides Dotson, Medlen, McNamara, Delaney, and Schreiber, was Chuck Covington, who was present by phone from Texas. Absent were Leonard Armstrong, Doug Peters, James Williams, and Sara Cortese.