NORTHVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Hundreds of residents packed Northville High School's auditorium Monday night to voice their opposition to a proposed expansion of the Arbor Hills Landfill in Salem Township that borders Northville Township.
It's the latest development in the conversation surrounding the landfill's owner's, GFL Environmental, interest in expanding onto 90 acres it already owns.
This marks the second attempt at expansion after the previous owners withdrew their request in 2016 following significant community pushback.
"I hope that they have to stop this one. There should not be no other landfill in this area. Look at the price of houses. It’s almost like a million or more than a million-dollar houses around the area. You know, people are spending money on it and we don't want to live in this condition," Saju Geevarughese said.
Geevarughese says he’s experienced the odor, which prevents his kids from playing outside despite paying thousands in taxes.
Karen Kilar, who lives a half mile from the landfill, expressed frustration with the ongoing expansion efforts.
“The site, it’s huge. It's the largest in the area and it's just not necessary anymore. When we moved in, people said why are you moving in near a landfill. Where I grew up in Livonia, they told us for years that was going to be gone. Well, it's not yet,” Kilar said.
Kilar says it impacts her daily life and hopes adding her voice to the conversation will make a difference.
“In the morning, you can’t go outside and enjoy a walk or run, walk the dogs, play with your kids,” Kilar said.
The opposition extends beyond Northville residents.
"We joined with the Northville residents. We don't want it either. So I heard a lot about Salem Township benefiting — we don't want it either. The township people that I know, I've been there for years, and we don't want it either," Salem Township resident Janet Sims said.
The meeting was organized by The Conservancy Initiative, the same group that led local opposition to the expansion attempt a decade ago.
"We feel we have an obligation to share the information we have and get our community ready because we know they don't want a new landfill, so we need to get them ready and get them activated again," David Drinan said.
He says a new landfill would not support Michigan’s recycling goals.
“Michigan has an abundance of landfill space already approved and permitted — more than 20 years of capacity. The Michigan solid waste regulations have set goals for our recycling rate to increase from approximately 20% currently, to 30% by 2029 and eventually 45%. This will decrease the amount of landfill space required,” Drinan said. “Michigan excess landfill capacity coupled with our extremely low tipping fees discourage investment in innovative recycling solutions. Our group, The Conservancy Initiative hopes that Washtenaw County will continue to be an environmental leader and deny GFl's proposed new landfill.”
State Rep. Jason Morgan joined local leaders in Northville and Northville Township in speaking out against the proposal.
"The question for me is whether residents have a say in this and whether they know what's going on, and making sure their voices really are heard, because a lot of folks are impacted if this landfill adds another site," Morgan said.
The Arbor Hills Landfill has a history of violations related to odor, traffic and environmental concerns, according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. EGLE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have conducted several investigations of the landfill. Due to continued noncompliance, EGLE and the Michigan Attorney General's Office filed a lawsuit against the landfill in October 2020. In March 2022, EGLE and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office signed a settlement agreement with AHL in the form of a Consent Judgment.
May 2025 video report: Residents continue to oppose proposed landfill on border of Wayne and Washtenaw counties
EGLE staff continues to respond to complaints and concerns filed by residents near the landfill and conduct on-site investigations as well as regular inspections and compliance activities.
This attempt at expansion is currently at holding point, waiting for key approval by Washtenaw Board of Commissioners.
The facility submitted an application to (EGLE) around two years ago, but before the state can consider their permit application, Washtenaw County's Materials Management Planning Committee (MMP) must review the local waste disposal plan. Their recommendation will then go to the Washtenaw Board of Commissioners.
December 2024 video report: Residents fight plan to expand controversial Arbor Hills Landfill in Washtenaw County
Michigan's solid waste regulations do not allow EGLE to consider the permit applications until the proposed new landfill can demonstrate it is consistent with Washtenaw County's MMP. The MMP Committee is required to create a siting process and determine how Washtenaw County will meet its capacity requirements for waste, recycling processing and compost.
Drinan agreed the meeting may be premature but believes this step in the process offers the best opportunity to stop the expansion.
"Ultimately, they'll have to approve what the materials management plan committee recommended. We think this is probably the best step in the process for us to stop the landfill because the EGLE permits are really engineering permits and once the permit applicant meets the engineering standards, it's very difficult, actually probably impossible to stop the permit from being issued," Drinan said.
October 2023 video report: Northville Twp. seeks temporary restraining order against landfill over bad smells, pollution
GFL, the landfill's current owner, did not respond to requests for comment about their expansion efforts and community concerns.
The MMP committee made of multiple stakeholders has been researching and gathering information for their new plan. A previous plan was approved in 2019 and the current process has been going on for seven years, according to one member. There are plans to have public meetings in February and March to discuss a tentative draft.
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