It’s rare for members of the Warren County Planning and Zoning Commission to reject a business proposal outright. It’s even more rare for the commission to agree with a common complaint often satirized by the phrase “Not in my backyard!”

But that’s what happened Nov. 21, when members of the commission told applicant Robert Hamlin that his proposal for a yard waste composting facility would be a great idea, if he could only find a more appropriate location.

“I really want your business in Warren County. I think it’s a wonderful business. But I just wish we could find somewhere else,” planning commission member Cuddy Gildehaus told Hamlin during a public hearing Nov. 21. He was referring to Hamlin’s proposed location on the North Service Road just east of Wright City.

Seven members of the eight-person planning commission voted to deny a conditional use permit (CUP) for Hamlin to establish a composting facility at 239 E. Service Road North, on the grounds that it would create a nuisance for nearby homeowners.

Hamlin had sought a CUP to collect and grind yard waste, compost it and sell the product as mulch. He told the commission it would be a relatively small operation on a 4-acre agricultural lot, and that he eventually would also like to compost certain food waste. 

Not to be composted were meat scraps, animal waste, or anything that would cause the compost to have a major odor. The compost isn’t marketable if it has a strong smell, Hamlin commented, and he wants to avoid bothering any neighbors.

“My goal in this is to help reduce the amount of illegal dumping and illegal burning,” Hamlin added. “If you look around the county, as we have grown to so many houses on such small lots, they’ve got no place to go with (yard waste).”

Hamlin previously worked at a larger composting facility run by the city of St. Peters. He said his operation would be regulated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to protect nearby waterways from runoff pollution.

However, residents of Wright City’s Forest Lake subdivision, situated just north of the proposed composting site, were greatly concerned that the facility would negatively impact their homes. Some feared runoff from the compost would cause chemical pollution in the lake the subdivision is built around. Others predicted the yard waste collection would become a garbage dump, and that despite Hamlin’s claim otherwise, odors from the composting would be unbearable.

“The house that I’m in today was supposed to be my dream home. I’m sorry, but this is not the kind of thing that I want to (be near) the rest of my life, or my retirement, or to share with my grandchildren,” said resident Christina Hawkins. “I’m very much about recycling, but … there’s plenty of land all over Warren County that is not near residential areas.”

Recent experience has made the Forest Lake residents especially wary. The owner of a trailer park adjacent to the proposed composting site was sued in 2018 for alleged violations of Missouri’s clean water law.

The Wright City government also urged the county planning commission to reject the composting site. In a letter to the commission, Wright City said the property under consideration should be reserved for future commercial development. 

The lot is not currently within the municipal boundary of Wright City.

Prior to comments from the public, Planning and Zoning Administrator Vickie Vohsen pointed out that Warren County lacks a generally available yard waste disposal site.

“Currently this kind of facility is something that Warren County does not have. The closest drop-off facility for county residents is in O’Fallon,” Vohsen told the planning commission.

Hamlin said he was taken by surprise by the planning commission’s ruling.

“(The facility) is something that’s good for the county, we believe. It’s the environmentally correct thing to do in keeping organics out of the landfills,” Hamlin said. “It would also be something that would be good for the county in terms of generating sales tax revenue.”

Hamlin later told The Record he is strongly considering appealing the decision to Warren County’s governing commission. He has until Monday, Dec. 2 to do so. If he does, it would lead to a new hearing before the three-person County Commission, and another chance for supporters and opponents of the composting facility to make their case.