# Compost divides neighbors in Macomb Twp.



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Compost divides neighbors in Macomb Twp.

http://www.freep.com/news/locmac/nzone2_20030102.htm

I also got this email:
Regarding King of the Wind (KOTW) Farms and composting, Wayne Koser (retired DNR recycling and composting staff) and I have had over a decade of working with KOTW, in and out of court. 

Number "uno" - check the vested interest of the "stakeholders", e.g., development interests of local investors including the Twp board members. The farm is located in the center of Macomb Twp's master plan for their new city downtown. Investors and developers who have been on the Twp board historically have intense vested interests in the location and have tried to buy or force Ms Michaels out for over a decade. Also, compare the planned urban sprawl and manicured lawns and pesticide uses for golf courses and lawns. Check the water quality runoff from those lawns vs the run off from pastured land whose only applications are compost, not inorganic fertilizers, etc. Their claim of environmental protection rings a bit strange.

Does it smell? Yes, like a pig or poultry farm? No! Odors are in the nose (and experience) of the beholder. Would this Mich city boy whose family included farming live next to it and not feel offended? No problem, but I grew up knowing that the smell of horses and cows meant a great vacation riding horses, haying, etc. This is not to say there are not days when family farm odors were less than enjoyable. KOTW has not, in my experience been an ongoing source of continuous odors. To my nose, the smell of large scale composting is not objectionable. I know that KOTW has been working with MDA and MDEQ to set up better operations and to put in place materials and practices to meet RTFarm requirements and env resources. 

Composting is a far better choice than landfilling yardwaste. Michigan made that decision a number of years ago and had to battle the landfill industry to get there. I's hate to see Mich move backwards - we need more composting not less -- unless you agree with me that yard waste (esp grass) ought to stay on the lawn in the first place:>)


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Macomb Twp. supervisors are suffering from a severe rectal cranial inversion. The entire "downtown" area was mainly agricultural just a decade ago. People decide to buy a new house next to an ongoing buisness concern, then have the audacity to complain about the nature of the buisness? Tough.
Just a few years back, there was a subdivison built next to a dairy farm, and people started complaining about the odors. The township lost a battle to put the dairy farm out of buisness, but the farm went out anyhow a few years later, as the land was worth more as a subdivison than a dairy operation.


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