Plymouth Township resident Tom Finn stood before a Washtenaw County committee on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and told officials he could smell the Arbor Hills Landfill from the golf course next door for years, according to WXYZ. Now he wants to make sure neighbors have a say before it gets any bigger.
"We're all concerned about the landfill. For years I golfed at a golf course right next to it; you can smell it — it's there, and I'm more concerned about the long-term financial liability, and we know that materials fail," Finn said at the meeting.
He wasn't alone.
Finn was among residents from Plymouth Township, Northville Township and surrounding communities who filled the Washtenaw County Materials Management Planning Committee's monthly meeting to oppose GFL Environmental's plan to expand the Arbor Hills Landfill onto 90 additional acres in Salem Township.
The Canada-based waste hauler wants to build a new disposal area at the northwest corner of Napier and Six Mile roads, immediately north of the existing landfill and just inside the Washtenaw County line, according to Waste Dive. The 730-acre site already houses a materials recovery facility, composting operation and renewable natural gas plant.
What happens next
A GFL presenter was expected at Wednesday's meeting but did not attend. The company is now scheduled to present its proposal at the committee's Sept. 9 meeting.
The committee plans to vote in December on whether the expansion is consistent with the county's 10-year materials management plan. If approved there, Washtenaw County commissioners would vote on the full plan, and two-thirds of the county's municipalities would need to sign off before GFL could formally apply to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
GFL did not respond to WXYZ's request for comment. District manager Dave Seegert told the Detroit Free Press in January that the landfill "provides an essential service for the surrounding communities and the expansion is necessary to sustain those services into the future," according to Hometown Life.
A familiar fight
This is not the first time the landfill has tried to grow. A previous owner, Republic Services, attempted a similar expansion in 2016 but was rebuffed by local officials.
GFL agreed to pay $2.3 million in state penalties in a March 2022 settlement over odor and compliance violations. The landfill was also found in 2019 and 2020 to have elevated PFAS levels in monitoring wells, leachate and a stormwater pond draining toward Johnson Creek.
The nonprofit Conservancy Initiative, led by Northville Township resident Leslie Evans, has organized opposition for months. In a Feb. 25 rebuttal to GFL's claims, the group noted that GFL's own drawings show the proposed landfill would sit approximately 1,900 feet from the nearest home in the Steeplechase neighborhood, closer than the existing landfill's 2,200-foot buffer, according to the group's analysis.
Plymouth Township officials watching closely
At the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 13, 2026, Supervisor Chuck Curmi noted that approximately 200 people had attended a meeting in opposition to the expansion. Resident Bill Ickes urged neighbors to email Washtenaw County, adding that GFL trucks are harming Wayne County roads. Trustee Jen Buckley also asked for updates on the proposal, according to township meeting minutes.
State Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth, joined two other state lawmakers and hundreds of residents opposing the plan at a January 2025 town hall in Northville, according to a legislative press release.
Evans, who has been organizing community members throughout the county's review process, said Wednesday that if a new landfill is approved it could operate for 30 years or more, and that residents would be left to deal with the environmental consequences long after GFL walks away.
The next public opportunity for residents to weigh in is the committee's Sept. 9 meeting.
