The Daily Catch

Scraps Get Scrapped As Rhinebeck Village Board Abandons Composting Facility Following Threat of Lawsuits, Town Opposition



The Village of Rhinebeck pilot compost project, which ran for 10 months in 2022, has been scrapped after resident and Town Board opposition (photo by Amelia Legare).

In a stunning reversal, the Village of Rhinebeck Board of Trustees voted to scrap its ambitious proposal to build the first village-wide, on-site compost facility in the Hudson Valley, following mounting opposition, first from a group of residents who live near the proposed facility, and then from the Rhinebeck Town Board. 

“Now, given the apparent opposition expressed at the Town Board meeting, I don’t see a path forward, given how this project has now been undermined and misinformation has been spread,” Village Trustee Vanessa Bertozzi, who spearheaded the project, told residents Tuesday night. “I don’t think this is the end of our composting story,” she added. “It’s just time to regroup.”

The proposed composting facility was to have been built behind the village of Rhinebeck Highway Department building between Routes 308 and 9G and would have made the village’s composting pilot program permanent and available to village businesses and residents (read our coverage).

The village had already secured two grants totaling $300,000 to pay for the construction of the facility, and obtained approval from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to register it. 

But the project faced a series of hurdles. First, local residents, who live near where the facility would be built, said they fear a large composting facility would produce a foul odor, loud noise, and could lead to an increase in traffic and the decline of their home values in a residential neighborhood. Over the past two weeks, a group of at least 14 residents who live near the proposed site threatened to sue the town and village if the project proceeded. 

Vanessa Bertozzi has been heading up the compost project for the Village of Rhinebeck (photo courtesy Vanessa Bertozzi).

The specter of a potential lawsuit hanging over the project appeared to drive Bertozzi’s decision. “I don’t believe any future taxpayer dollars should be used in defense of a lawsuit where the town is actively working against us in the village and aligning with neighbors who oppose this project,” she said. 

In addition, on Monday night, the Rhinebeck Town Board voted unanimously to declare the town an interested party in the process, a procedural move that would allow the Town Board to consult with its attorney, Warren Replansky, to determine if the zoning code would even allow a composting facility at its proposed site

Addressing a half-dozen residents who spoke out in opposition to the composting facility on Monday, Rhinebeck Town Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia said, “The town board would be an interested party on your behalf to advocate for the facility not being built (on Violet Hill Road).”

The move was the clearest signal yet that town officials opposed the project in its current form. The Town Board had also declined a request from the Village Board in March to contribute $12,500 towards the construction of the new compost facility. 

Further Pushback

Although the composting project was to be run by the village, it still needed the green light of the town Planning Board because the site, while situated on land owned by the village, is within the town’s jurisdiction. 

Winning the Planning Board’s stamp of approval also proved a tough sell. At a May 1 Planning Board public hearing on the project, nearly 40 residents turned up, and half a dozen spoke out against the new composting facility. 

“I would be an ally in favor of municipal composting but the village proposing a site in our neighborhood which as town residents we won’t have access to, and which will negatively impact our quality of life, is selfish and shortsighted,” town resident Kira Manso Brown, who lives near the highway garage, told Planning Board members. 

Meanwhile, town resident John Cusick, who lives along Violet Hill Road, said he is part of a group who live near the proposed composting site who have hired a lawyer and are prepared to fight the project if it continues in its current form. “Our concerns are many,” he said. “Despite what has been presented, composting does create odor.” In addition, he added, “We are very concerned about noise…we are going to be impacted by sound.” Cusick also expressed concerns that a new composting facility would attract rats. 

The Rhinebeck composting program was to have deployed an aerated static pile system for food scraps (photo by Adobe Stock Photos).

Chris Bender, who also lives on Violet Hill Road, questioned the wisdom of the facility’s location. “Why is this being put in a residential area versus the (town) transfer station which is in a less populated area,” he said. “That would seem like a much more appropriate place.” 

Meanwhile, some town residents welcomed the proposal. Al Ragucci, who recently enrolled in a composting program at The Gardens, a residential development in Rhinebeck, said this small composting program gave him hope that a village-wide program could be successful. “There is no smell from the compost here at The Gardens, it’s been very successfully introduced here,” he said. 

On Monday night, Cusick said his concerns had gone unaddressed by village officials as well as by the Town’s Planning Board. “The team that is proposing this fails to acknowledge what this is potentially going to do to our taxes,” he fumed. “We are going to have to put up with noise, with traffic.” 

Rhinebeck Village Fire Department Chief Bryan Knapp, who also lives near the proposed composting site, said he was particularly concerned that meat or dairy products in the facility will contribute to the “stink” of the composting site. That odor, he told the Town Board on Monday, could lower the property value of neighboring homeowners. “If I ever wanted to sell my house, the only time I would be able to sell it would be in January when the ground is frozen and the compost won’t stink,” he said. 

Others said they wanted more details on how the proposed facility would be financed after it’s built. 

“I am wondering if the board could provide more clarity on the total cost of ownership (capital + operational) in addition to a total carbon footprint calculation over a ten-year timeframe,” Rhinebeck resident Roger Quon wrote in an email Monday to Village Trustees. “Keeping our Village affordable, especially for those who are struggling financially, is paramount to me,” he added.   

In response to residents’ questions, the village devoted a page on its website to explaining the project and attempted to address concerns over noise and odor.  

Amelia Legare of the O Zone in Red Hook has advised Rhinebeck on its composting program (photo by Emily Sachar).

The composting method to be deployed for the new facility is called aerated static pile (ASP), Bertozzi wrote on the village website. The technology uses pipes to oxygenate food scraps so they break down more quickly. ASP’s use of airflow works to dramatically negate the smell that typically comes from compost piles, according to Bertozzi. An added benefit of the system is its ability to compost meat, bones, and dairy that can’t be composted in a residential backyard. The village estimated the facility would process roughly 2 tons of food scraps per week.

The village also amended its plan for the facility to meet residents’ concerns. To reduce traffic on Violet Hill Road, the compost facility would not offer a public compost drop-off, as previously planned, according to an April 26 letter penned by Bertozzi to the Town Planning Board. The noise generated by the facility was expected to range between 65 to 75  decibels, roughly the sound of a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer.

Residents React To News

Residents reacted with shock, frustration, and sadness as the news came down Tuesday night. 

“I would like to thank Vanessa Bertozzi and everybody who worked on this plan,” Christian Ayne Crouch, a longtime Rhinebeck village resident and Dean of Graduate Studies at Bard, said Tuesday. Crouch participated in the village’s composting pilot, and said she’s disappointed the larger composting facility won’t move forward. 

Crouch said she was particularly disappointed by the manner in which residents and the Town Board opposed the project. “I guess the thing that I took away from this is the lack of community around this issue,” she said. “Having the town and village be at odds and having the town undermine what so many people in the village wanted to work towards is disheartening.”

Another village resident, Elizabeth Roth, who worked on the village’s composting sub-committee, concurred. “From what I can see, the problems for the neighbors around the site were just unfounded, completely unfounded,” she said. “It’s NIMByism that doesn’t allow affordable housing facilities to be built, that doesn’t allow composting to be built, etc.,” she added. “I’m heartbroken about this.”

Others said they were angered by the threat of lawsuits over the project. “To have neighbors essentially bully and threaten to sue the town and village into bankruptcy is just bullying,” said Al Ragucci. 

Meanwhile, Leon Greene, who lives near the proposed facility and opposed the proposal, pushed back. “I support composting,” he said. “The issue at hand is the site selection for the location of the project. Just because it’s outside the village and you may not view us as your neighbors doesn’t mean that you get to tell us to suck it up for the public good, that’s not the way the law works,” he said. Greene noted he would be amenable to a large composting facility at a different location. But he accused the Village Board of Trustees of trying to force the project through without soliciting input from town residents.

That is a claim Bertozzi vehemently denies. “I would like to correct something that Leon said,” she interjected. “I did go and knocked on doors, I called and emailed every neighbor with an adjoining property, including yourself. And almost to a one, they all were supportive, until you started talking to them.”

Said Greene, “That is not true! Trustees should not be lying on microphone.”

Rhinebeck Village Mayor Gary Bassett interrupted. “That’s enough!”

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