CH4 Biogas

An employee of the company that owns and operates the Synergy Biogas manure digesting facility in Wyoming County on Tuesday night downplayed concerns over potential odors from a proposed renewable gas facility at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park on the east side of Batavia.

Speaking at the Batavia Town Planning Board meeting at the Town Hall on West Main Street Road, Melissa Franklin, technical sales & services representative, responded to local resident Wayne Nichols’ belief that the Genesee Biogas plant would cause a stink, literally.

“This is a different plant than Synergy. This will have camlock fittings and a different air system, and it will be confined,” Gilbert said. “Synergy is very different than this one.”

Nichols said he owns farmland near the site of the project but does not live in the area. He said he is looking out for those who live on Batavia Stafford Townline Road and others in the vicinity.

“I’ve worked in the ag industry for 70 years and there is no such thing as a confined system,” he said at the public hearing.

Lauren Toretta, president of CH4 Biogas, which is seeking a special use permit to build the facility, said the plan is to construct “an environmentally and economically beneficial project.”

She said having a renewable gas facility closer to O-AT-KA Milk Products, HP Hood and Upstate Niagara will mean trucks won’t have to drive as far to dispose of the waste.

CH4 Biogas proposes to construct and operate a plant consisting of two digesters, a gas storage tank and associated equipment for the purpose of digesting organic wastes to produce renewable natural gas and/or electricity and heat.

A utility corridor consisting of waste force main lines, electrical lines and water lines will run from each of the main waste stream plants to the facility.

Toretta said a small portion of the waste stream will be received by truck delivery.

Nichols said his wish is that they find a different location, farther from the city limits.

“It’s not as clean as we think,” he said. “There are sometimes when I come in on Ellicott Street into Batavia, if the wind is out of the east, when you get down by the old Sylvania plant, and the smell coming from O-AT-KA is putrid. It stinks.”

In other action, the board:

-- Conducted a public hearing concerning a special use permit application from Jason Bonsignore of East Coast Speedway to open and operate a racetrack on the former Polar Wave property at 3500 Harloff Rd. in a commercial/recreation district.

Bonsignore cited his company’s “good track record” over 28 years and promised a family-friendly facility that would “fill a niche” for dirt bike and go-kart enthusiasts. While several people supported his project, a woman and man who live nearby said they objected to the amount of noise and the increase in traffic.

The former National Hockey League player went on to say that his track will be quieter than the neighboring Area 51 motocross track and will operate on one night a week for practice, on Fridays until 11 p.m. and, occasionally, on Saturdays.

-- Received an update on the Byrne Dairy project on Lewiston Road, near the First United Methodist Church, from Christian Brunelle, senior executive vice president of Sonbyrne Sales, Inc.

Brunelle said he has revised the site plan to address the Genesee County Planning Department’s recommendations focusing on walkability and the positioning of the building.

He said changes include shifting the building to the south, toward the new Rumsey Road; moving parking spaces, adding picnic tables on a concrete patio; adding a sidewalk, and moving the stormwater drainage to the east, behind the store.

Brunelle also said the company understands that the New York State Department of Transportation is requiring a left turn lane into the property for vehicles heading south on Route 63 and that Byrne Dairy will install a white “greeting fence” along Route 63.

The proposed dairy would be situated in a development that will include a new Tractor Supply store.

The Batavia Town Planning Board on Tuesday night set public hearings for four projects, including a 5-megawatt ground-mounted commercial solar system on a large agricultural parcel at 9327 Wortendyke Rd.

Speaking at the board’s meeting at the Batavia Town Hall, Will Nieles, project developer representing New Leaf Energy said the solar array will cover about 15.7 acres of a 51.3-acre field in an Agricultural-Residential zoned district.

The application has been submitted by Judy Green/Wortendyke Road Solar 1, LLC. Previously, the project was recommended for approval by the Genesee County Planning Board.

Nieles said the site was selected due to its extensive natural screening, noting that no major tree clearing will be needed. Marc Kenward of Erdman Anthony engineering suggested that the board conduct a visual simulation to see how the solar farm will look years ahead.

Kacey Rose, also of Erdman Anthony, said that all setbacks are within town zoning requirements, and that none of the land designated as wetlands will be affected. She added that trucks will be coming and going from the site about 25 times per day during construction.

The board scheduled the public hearing for 7:15 p.m. on May 21. It also called for a State Environmental Quality Review, site plan review and special use permit.

In other action, the board:

-- Set a public hearing for 7:15 p.m. on May 7 to consider a special use permit and conduct a SEQR for East Coast Speedway’s plan to reopen a motocross track on the grounds of the former Polar Wave on Harloff Road. 

Jason Bonsignore of East Coast Speedway said the project has been modified to include one parcel of land – instead of the original proposal of two parcels – in an effort to bring the motorcycle, ATV and go-kart track back “exactly as years ago.”

The board is requiring a special use permit for the project to go forward.

-- Set a public hearing for 7 p.m. on May 21 in conjunction with a request by Peter Yasses of Byron to obtain a special use permit to construct a 100-foot by 50-foot storage facility at 8887 Alexander Rd. to store his loaders and snow removal equipment.

Yasses said he does much snow removal work in Batavia and has found it difficult to go back and forth to Byron.

“I rent space now in the city. I’d like to own something,” he said.

He also is seeking a build a 30x30 enclosed salt shed and will have a couple small piles of top soil on the land that he plans to purchase.

The board voted to conduct a SEQR and seek lead agency status for the proposal.

-- Set a public hearing for 7 p.m. on May 7 in connection with the proposed CH4 Biogas plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. 

Discussion centered around compiling a list of comments from regulatory agencies, the planning board and others to submit to the applicants prior to the board hearing from town residents on May 7.

A long-discussed plan to build a biogas plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-business Park in the Town of Batavia is again moving forward with the recommended approval on Thursday of a height variance for a storage tank on the property.

CH4 Biogas of Covington, operating the business name Genesee Biogas for the project,  first proposed the plant in 2014. 

Sara Gilbert, of Pinewood Engineering, asked the board to Genesee County Planning Board on Thursday to recommend approval for the company to build a digester storage tank taller than allowed by zoning code.  The biogas plant seeks approval for an 83.5-foot tall digester tank.

Gilbert noted that the board previously recommended approval of the variance for a plant location that was going to be just outside the ag park but the Town of Batavia board prefers the company build the plant inside the park so the application for the variance needed to be resubmitted for the new location in the park.

She also noted that HP Hood was granted a variance for a much taller tank, and Oatka Milk has tanks with heights that do not conform to the zoning code so the Genesee Biogas proposal is consistent with existing construction in the area.

The board approved the recommendation with one no-vote, from Eric Biscaro, who expressed concern about potential odor from the plant.

"I don't care what the height of the tank is, personally," Biscaro said. "I mean, I'm right next to this thing, and I would just as soon get back into that park further because I work at Armor (Building Supply) right down the road from Oatka and Let me tell you, it's pretty ripe there sometimes. And I'm close to this plant, living near there then I am at work. I'm under the impression that this plant is going to smell worse than Oatka."

No, Gilbert said, everything at the plant is enclosed, and the air coming out of the plant is filtered.

"It is different than maybe a more traditional digester," Gilbert said. "It actually has a negative pressure system that can pull the air out and put it through a biofilter system that filters the air. So it does not have a strong smell. And it doesn't have any animal waste at all associated with it. It's only food-grade waste from the plants in the park."

Genesee County Planning Director also informed the board that the only matter on the agenda for Thursday was the high variance. Genesee Biogas will present at a later date a site plan review, where issues such as odor can be considered.

In 2014, at a previous public meeting, Paul Toretta, CEO of CH4 Biogas, explained how the plant works: "We make green power out of organic waste. Once the digester does its thing, it captures methane and powers an engine that makes green power and puts it on the grid. The engine produces heat that can be used to heat Quaker Muller and Alpina (the plants in the park at the time), helping them cut their heating bill."

Quaker Muller's plant is now owned and operated by HP Hood, and Alpina is owned and operated by the Upstate Milk Cooperative.