Middletown Opposes Proposed Dom-Mar Transfer and Recycling Facility in Wawayanda

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—The city of Middletown stated its opposition to the proposed waste and recycling facility in the nearby town of Wawayanda on Aug. 25, citing effects on the community.

The proposed Dom-Mar Transfer and Recycling Facility would sit on a 44.3-acre lot at 1138 and 1118 Dolsontown Road, just outside the city limits of Middletown. It would be on a busy road that connects the Dolson Avenue commercial strip and the commercial district in the town of Wallkill, where the Galleria at Crystal Run and Walmart are located.

The facility is intended to adapt to future market conditions and opportunities, and the proposed design would process 950 tons of waste per day, 271,000 tons per year.

The area proposed is mostly an unused old dairy field, abandoned barns, and an office building. It sits across from a warehouse that is still under construction.

The materials being processed would include municipal solid waste, construction debris, recyclables, and unadulterated wood. It will not accept waste such as hazardous materials, asbestos, and septage.

Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano wrote a letter to the Town of Wawayanda Planning Board on Aug. 25, establishing the city’s opposition to the facility. The city had opposed the facility three times since permitting for the project began in 2021.

The letter said that the board should consider not only the project in isolation but also the effects it will have on nearby roads and communities, particularly Route 17M, Route 211, Dolson Avenue, Interstate 84, and local streets that would experience increased truck traffic.

During extended hours, the facility would receive about 80 waste and recycling trucks and put out 44 transfer trailers from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. On regular weekdays, it would operate from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the extra hours would be used to reduce wait times for trucks coming in and out, especially on holidays when traffic is heavy.

DeStefano said that the effects of this traffic should be studied more broadly, including intersection capacity, crash risk, and emergency response time.

The facility will handle material inside the building, which will help reduce dust and odor. Doors will be kept closed except for vehicles entering and exiting, and deodorizers will be used to address immediate offensive odors.

Dust and exhaust are likely to be kept low as vehicles move slowly or idle, and burning materials is not permitted.

The mayor raised the issues that waste hauling and uncovered vehicles might line up outside the building and that there is no plan for a permanent negative-pressure ventilation system to prevent odors from leaving the building.

The letter further states that the facility’s once-daily litter inspection is insufficient for the property. The mayor said that continuous monitoring, roadway sweeping, covered-load enforcement, and off-site cleanup obligations would be essential to operations, and he said that these measures would still not make the facility fit in the area.

Another concern of the mayor’s is the noise of trucks as early as 4 a.m. There are residential neighborhoods and houses along Dolsontown Road, although not many in the immediate vicinity of the proposed facility.

The letter calls for an analysis of infrastructure improvements needed to accommodate the extra truck traffic, when the changes must be made, who will pay for them, and how deterioration of local infrastructure could be avoided.

The final note is that the facility would have negative effects on the area’s future. The mayor says that the solid-waste business could discourage cleaner businesses from investing in the Middletown–Wawayanda area.

Other effects might include constraining land usage choices, devaluing nearby properties, and undermining efforts to improve the corridor.

The facility owner and operator, Michael Marangi of DOM KAM LLC, declined to comment to The Epoch Times.