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Chittenden County compost operation might move to Williston

Written by Administrator

Thursday, 01 April 2010

Chittenden County compost operation might move to Williston By Candace Page, Free Press Staff Writer Thursday, April 1, 2010 The Chittenden Solid Waste District has dropped plans to move the county’s compost operation from Burlington’s Intervale to Richmond. Instead, the relocated, upgraded facility is proposed for land the district owns on Redmond Road in Williston. The expected cost of the new facility is $1.25 million, a 60 percent increase over earlier estimates. Since 1987, a share of the county’s yard waste, food scraps, horse manure and other organics has been hauled and dumped in Burlington’s Intervale, where the wastes are converted into compost for home gardens and professional landscapers. CSWD purchased Intervale Compost last year as its parent, the nonprofit Intervale Center, was on the verge of closing it in the wake of allegations of environmental violations and concerns that composting had destroyed American Indian artifacts buried in the soil. The waste district negotiated an agreement with the state attorney general to keep the site open temporarily, but to move the operation by July 1 this year. “The answer is no, we won’t be ready by the deadline,” waste district general manager Tom Moreau said Wednesday. If the necessary permits can be obtained in a timely way, the new compost site could be up and running before the end of the year, he said. It is not clear how the district will handle compost-bound wastes between July 1 and the opening of the new operation. Unlike the Intervale, the new compost site will process wastes under cover, in a three-sided building with bays in which air can be blown through the decomposing piles to speed up their transformation. The freshest piles will sit on a paved surface, to protect against groundwater contamination. It’s that steel building, aeration system and paved surface that have driven up cost estimates, Moreau said. The Williston site offers more permanence than a sandpit off Kenyon Road in Richmond, which the district was close to leasing in January, Moreau said. Composting organic waste is a key part of the district’s strategy to lessen the need for more landfill space. It makes more sense to turn leaves and food scraps into a commercial product than to truck them to distant solid waste dumps. The district will need a series of permits from the town of Williston and the state before it can proceed, including a new host-town agreement to compensate Williston, a zoning permit and an Act 250 land-use permit. Moreau met with homeowners in the nearby Ledgewood development this week. One of those residents, Craig Abrahams, said some neighbors raised concerns about odors and noise. Plans for the new operation call for decomposing piles to be covered with a foot of fresh compost to control odors, among other steps. “My concerns were addressed by Tom — that they would work on issues of noise and odor with homeowners,” Abrahams said. Abrahams also is a leader of a Williston-based group opposed to the district’s plans to put a landfill on Redmond Road. He said he was happy the district is upgrading its handling of compost but disappointed there are no immediate plans to capture more of the organic wastes generated in Chittenden County. Ken Beliveau, Williston’s planning director, noted the land is zoned industrial and said, “This is a potentially viable project.” He said the town Development Review Board is likely to require CSWD to study the compost operation’s impact on traffic. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100401/NEWS02/100331024/Chittenden-County-compost-operation-might-move-to-Williston

 

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