Board OKs SERF expansion

HAMPDEN – Satisfied with Sawyer Environmental Recovery Facility’s new plan to address odor problems, the planning board voted 5-2 Wednesday to approve the landfill’s expansion.

Voting affirmatively for the site plan application were Chairman Kevin Ingram, David Caliendo, Beric Deane, Steven Holt and Richard Peer.

Meanwhile, Beverly Woodcock and Arthur Childs turned a thumbs down. E.R. Knickerbocker was recused since he had missed an earlier planning board meeting dealing with SERF and hadn’t heard all the evidence.

With the meeting ending shortly before midnight, Woodcock said the lateness of the hour prevented the board from thoroughly reviewing the proposal. Childs said he wasn’t comfortable that the odors could be controlled.

But other board members appeared confident with SERF’s recently proposed plan to implement an active gas-collection system and an odor-control system at the working face of the landfill.

As a condition, SERF will begin installation of the active gas-collection system within 15 working days of approval by the Department of Environmental Protection.

If DEP fails to approve the system within one year of the planning board’s approval, SERF must submit to the planning board for review and approval an alternative gas-collection and flaring system.

Other stipulations have SERF conducting an odor-monitoring program for one year. If reports reveal a landfill-related odor, SERF will submit an odor-control plan to the town manager or another official.

SERF also must engage a qualified consultant to train SERF and town employees in odor assessment. If the town receives an odor complaint related to the landfill, SERF will investigate the source of the odor.

The new conditions made a big difference for Chairman Ingram who nixed SERF’s expansion at the March 14 meeting, saying the landfill hadn’t demonstrated that it could control odors.

“Clearly there still are nightmare scenarios that could occur, but what I see here … is no longer reactive, but active,” he said. “This has a much more likelihood of working.”

After the board voted at the last meeting to deny SERF’s expansion, the landfill submitted new conditions and requested that town officials re-examine their decision.

With a lengthy agenda before them, it was 10 p.m. before board members were able to take up SERF’s request. They voted 5-2 to reconsider their earlier decision; again, Woodcock and Childs voted nay.

The conditions didn’t allay some residents’ fears. Bill Lippincott wondered about the chemicals that SERF proposed using to neutralize odors. Just because the odor is mitigated doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be harmful pollutants, he said.