ROCHESTER — The Town Planner Steven Starrett had Town Counsel draw up a letter to Zero Waste Solutions after Planning Board Chair Arnold Johnson observed the facility with its doors open at odd hours despite several requests to close them.

Johnson had driven by the facility, which started operation on May 20, several times around 9:30 p.m. and observed the doors still open.

Under the terms of the facility’s agreement with the town, the doors are supposed to be shut after operating hours. Starrett said that he had sent a few emails to the company’s CEO Michael Camara, but had yet to see any change. The original concern with the doors being open was that the facility had more odors when operating as a transfer station, and that rats might be able to get in at night. 

Planning Board member Gary Florindo asked whether the facility had posted hours, or whether it was operating on an almost continuous basis.

Starrett did not know what the facility’s hours were, but knew they were posted somewhere and more closely resembled normal operating hours. He also noted that the facility has a gate which it closes, but the doors remain wide open.

Camara responded to Starrett’s email saying that the doors were left open for contractors to finish work.

However Planning Board members noted that even if a contractor was using a forklift, the doors would not need to be all the way open.