Paul Mazanec, an engineer for Waste Management, showed the Van Buren Township Planning Commission a map of the gas collection system at the connected WM landfills in Canton and Van Buren during a special workshop session April 19.
The meeting was third in a series of workshops to go over the conditions for locating a cogeneration plant at 1 Visteon Way, explained Terry Carroll, VBT Director of Planning and Economic Development.
The township board approved the special land use for the landfill-gas-to-energy plant on the Visteon property a year ago, following the recommendation of the planning commission.
Recently, VBT Trustee Al Ostrowski tried to get the board to rescind its approval, but the board wasn’t interested.
The planning commission is working on details before giving its approval to a preliminary site plan. One of the questions the board had was about the connection between Canton and VBT landfills and if Canton gas would be piped to the VBT cogeneration plant.
Township Treasurer Sharry Budd went on a tour to see for herself and recommended the commission hear from the engineer on the layout.
Mazanec said WM has three landfills called Woodland Meadows: Woodland Meadows North in Canton was closed in 1985; Woodland Meadows South in Canton was closed in 1995; Woodland Meadows Van Buren is an active site.
He said there is one comprehensive landfill gas collection system for the three and the air quality permit covers the whole Woodland Meadows site. There is a series of flares.
He said Ameresco bought a plant on a Canton landfill in 1989 and it supplies energy to the Ford plant in Wayne. He said the new collection will feed both the Canton and proposed VBT site.
Mazanec said there is, give or take, about 15 years of life left in the VBT landfill. Gas production is hard to predict, he said, but once they stop adding to a landfill, the gas generation decreases. He said the two earlier sites had plenty of gas for Ford, but two years ago they had to pull some of the gas from VBT.
It was unclear whether there was an agreement that gave Ford preference for the gas.
Jeff Stander, representing Hoosier Energy/Ameresco, said, “There’s so much gas between the sites, more than would be needed for the next 15 years for Ford and the new plant, and we will still need to flare.”
Carroll said methane gas can’t be banked and it has to be used as it is produced. Flares burn off the excess.
In its almost two-hour meeting, the commission also discussed:
• The proximity of the exhaust from the stacks to the air intakes of the Visteon building;
• The definition of “sensitive receptor” in the MDEQ documents, usually meaning a hospital, nursing home, or school shouldn’t be downwind of the exhaust;
• Wind direction and two years of meteorology from Detroit Metro Airport;
• Sound measurements and how long the plant can operate at the beginning before non-compliance is determined. Also, whether a mutually agreed upon independent sound person could be hired. The township will seek advice from its attorney and the applicants will seek advice from their people before deciding this issue;
• How much the compliance bond should be, with Budd saying $500,000 isn’t enough and it should be more like $2 million, since there may have to be legal action. Carroll suggested they get the attorney’s opinion on the areas a bond would be necessary, which would include noise compliance and stack maintenance;
• The expected life of the “hospital-grade silencer” on the roof of the plant. Stander said it doesn’t wear out and Sally Hodges of McKenna Associates planning consultants responded, “Come on, everything wears out.” They will get the specifications for that equipment;
• Confirmation that all documents are in order since there are time discrepancies on the land lease agreement, the landfill agreement, and the gas purchase agreement;
• A discrepancy with the soil erosion permit from Wayne County Department of Environment that says the project is complete. This information was brought forth by Budd; and
• The height of the wall to hide the plant from motorists on I-275, which commissioners agreed should be 20’ all the way around, instead of stepping down to 14’ at one point.
When discussion was opened up to the audience, John Delaney commented on some of the details and pointed out the plant should be totally screened and, “You can’t screen 60’ stacks with a 30’ tree.”
Ernie Tozer said that the neighbors had been advised of meetings on the cogeneration plant right along in the past, but, “We were not notified of this meeting tonight. First time.”
Tozer said the recent sale of Visteon should impact the project. Also, he said, as he has in the past, that the cogeneration plant is not permitted in an Office Technology zoning and they are not following the ordinance they set up.
He said the split votes taken last year by the commission and the township board were premature because they were taken while members were still asking for more fact finding and, “therefore suspect.”
Tozer said, “You labored over the stack color and screening. You could paint it red, for all I care. You don’t follow your ordinance.” He asked, “Who do the neighbors call when there are odors and noise?
“Van Buren Township, I think, has made a mistake. We should own up to it and fix it,” he concluded.
The commissioners discussed how much time they would need to get information from the township attorney before meeting again.
Another workshop session on the project was held May 9. At this time, Carroll said it’s time to have one more final submission to the township with all the attachments, the stack maintenance plans and other items on the documents.
“For ongoing purposes, we probably should have a re-submittal,” Carroll said of the process that has taken more than a year.
Sally Hodges of planning consultants McKenna Associates said there should be a complete set of plans, with up-to-date permits.
Lawsuit looms
Meanwhile, a group of homeowners has hired a lawyer, Ralph M. Engle of Pontiac, who sent official notice to township officials on May 8 that a civil complaint will be filed in Wayne County Circuit Court if the township gives site plan approval for the co-generation plant.
The letter of intent said this land use violates the Zoning Ordinance for VBT and its Sequencing Standards.
The letter of intent includes written memos from former Planning and Economic Development Director Dan Swallow, consultant Hodges, and the township attorney stating the co-generation plant does not meet the Zoning Ordinance.
No mention of the law suit was made at any of the planning commission meetings since then.
Meeting that wasn’t
On May 21 members of the planning commission received hefty packets of information for one agenda item for the May 23 meeting: “Final Site Plan Approval for Hoosier Facility”. But then, later May 21, the meeting was canceled, apparently because commissioners needed more time to study the documents.
The Hoosier item was not on the next planning commission agenda on June 13, but it is sure to be coming up soon.