Officials in Perinton say they are not satisfied with the efforts by Waste Management to eliminate the odors at the High Acres landfill that have bothered town residents for more than a year.
The town board this week endorsed recommendations from the town’s Conservation Board as well as a proposed deadline calling for additional intervention by the state.
Town Supervisor Mike Barker says more should have been done by now to mitigate the odor situation.
“(To) impress on Waste Management and the DEC the level of urgency that we feel is needed in fixing this matter. We’re not 100 percent sure that Waste Management has seen that sense of urgency in trying to get rid of the order problem and by putting these deadlines on them, we believe that will get the problem corrected faster than it has been,” Barker told WXXI News.
Barker says the town is asking that if the state-required mitigation efforts are not completed by April 30th, the town will ask the DEC to take several steps including asking that municipal solid waste, which comes from other parts of the state, no longer be permitted to be brought to High Acres, at least until the issue is solved.
Barker also says that concerns have been expressed by people whose kids play Fairport baseball.
“Practices will start in April and people are concerned that they are not going to be able to practice or even get out to games and be able to enjoy it. And so Fairport baseball came to the town and we worked out these recommendations with the conservation board and the town board adopted them.”
Reportedly, Fairport Little League will not use the fields at the High Acres Complex this season because of concerns about the odors.
Also this week, Waste Management released a statement which said that it does expect to meet all of the state requirements outlined in a recent notice. The company says it continues to make progress on the remediation plan and says it remains on track to complete the work on schedule.
Waste Management says the New York State DEC continues to conduct near-daily on-site inspections of the facility, and the company says it complies with any recommendations or requirements that the DEC makes during those inspections.
