State orders Martic Township farmer’s composting operation to close after years of odor complaints
AD CRABLE (http://lancasteronline.com/staff/adcrable), Staff Writer
Martic Township PA (12/10/2017) – A Martic Township farmer’s eight-year fight to keep his unorthodox composting operation open amid odor complaints from his neighbors may be over.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Stephen Lehman to close his Green ’n Grow composting business and remove all material by the end of the month.
In the latest development in a long string of court battles and clashes with Martic Township officials, Lehman and DEP reached an agreement in Lancaster County Court in August. It required that Lehman obtain financing to close the operation and remove solid waste and compost.
But on Dec. 5, DEP was back in court, saying Lehman never produced proof of financing by the Oct. 31 deadline. The agency gave Lehman until Dec. 31 to finish the cleanup and said it may impose a fine.
History of complaints
Lehman has maintained he is working on a breakthrough composting process that successfully composts even plastics, an ubiquitous waste.
But his manure-composting operation on seven acres of his farm on Douts Hill Road near Mt. Nebo has garnered complaints from neighbors and resulted in clashes with the township since 2009.
He won an early skirmish with the township when the state Department of Agriculture, the state Attorney General’s Office and Lancaster County Court all determined the township’s zoning ordinance unfairly failed to permit certain “right to farm” uses such as Lehman’s.
They said that Lehman’s composting business, including the composting of chicken manure, was protected by state law in an agricultural district.
Then, in March 2014, DEP gave Lehman a research and development permit to compost some food items containing plastic that were never sold to consumers.
At least some of the food items involved composting packaged hot dogs. The waste has come from warehouses, meat processors and food banks.
The result, according to one of Lehman’s attorneys, has been a soil amendment mostly free of plastic material.
Company’s focus
Green ’n Grow’s website described the composting business as “committed to finding environmental ways to use materials that many call waste, and converting them to compost. Through the use of composting, we believe that landfill space can be saved.”
Attempts to reach Lehman through his attorneys were unsuccessful. One said he was recently let go by Lehman and could not comment. Lehman’s business phone number is no longer in service.
But as Lehman’s composting operation expanded into taking new materials — including slaughterhouse waste, packaged foods, waxed cardboard, sheets of plastics, cans, bottles, utensils, aluminum and Styrofoam — odor complaints intensified.
“It was really unbelievable with the smells,” Duane Sellers, township supervisors chairman, told LNP. “I’ve been to a couple of residents’ homes and smelled the odors. A lot of trash has blown off his property.”
Petitions from neighbors
Sellers said the township has received a petition signed by 50 to 60 residents living near Lehman’s farm requesting action against the composting operation.
Several residents have testified at township zoning hearings that they have become physically ill from odors from the composting operation.
In late 2016, the township informed Lehman that the composting of new materials and building of new structures was done without first getting required township permits.
Lehman appealed the enforcement notice, and five hearings were held with witnesses on both sides.
“He had me living in a garbage can,” complained one neighbor, Terry McDonald. Comparing the smells to rotting meat, McDonald said the odors burned his eyes and caused him to swallow blood. Another neighbor, vegetable farmer Ed Herrmann, said odors caused nose bleeds in both nostrils.
Court appeal pending
Last September, the Martic zoning hearing board denied Lehman’s appeal of the township’s enforcement action.
Lehman promptly appealed to Lancaster County Court. That appeal is still pending.
In its filings with the court, Martic Township said “neighboring property owners have experienced significant adverse impacts from the Green ’n Grow operation caused by foul odors and air pollution.”
Sellers said he hopes the court upholds the township’s decision that the current composting operation is illegal.
“Our biggest thing is all of our residents have a right to clean air and clean water and no one should be driven from their property for someone making a buck,” Sellers said.
DEP, meanwhile, after the research and development permit expired, gave Lehman until March 1, 2017, to stop all related composting operations.
But in court papers, DEP said that in two inspections a month later, food packaging waste was still found on the property and best management practices were not being followed.
The agency asked Lancaster County Court to order Lehman to correct the violations and levy fines if he doesn’t.