For three-and-a-half years, neighbors of Mt. Lebanon's Robb Hollow Park have fought "The Beast."

About 30 of them attended a public hearing Tuesday night to decry the noise and exhaust from Mt. Lebanon's two-story grinder, called "The Beast" by its manufacturer, that is used to chop up branches, debris and leaves at the municipal golf course and at the composting yard in the heart of the park.

The Mt. Lebanon board of commissioners considered three bills on Tuesday that would significantly affect how the municipality could use The Beast during curbside leaf pickups each fall. And one commissioner is seeking a deal with a private contractor to do the work somewhere other than in Mt. Lebanon.

Friends of Robb Hollow Park, a group representing neighbors and residents unhappy with the composting yard in the park, has claimed that the municipality can't compost there because the land was bought in part with state money requiring the land be used solely for recreation.

They had contacted officials at the state Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, where officials opined that composting wasn't allowed. But the township has permits from the Allegheny County Health Department to allow it.

"We're not happy, we think it's unhealthy, and we think it's illegal," Robert D'Angelo, husband of the group's founder, Mary D'Angelo, said at Tuesday's hearing.

The use of the grinder spreads a "smog" of diesel exhaust, mold, fungal spores and animal feces that is picked up with the leaves by Public Works crews, said Mary D'Angelo. The piles of shredded leaves being left to decompose into nutrient-rich compost attract vermin and give off a foul odor when they're turned, she said.

"We have newborn babies coming home all the time," she said. "When a brand-new baby comes into the neighborhood with pristine lungs, and comes into a place with that brown-gray smog produced by The Beast, it literally makes me sick to think of it."

Any one of the bills the commission is considering would change how it operates the leaf yard and The Beast, though the intent is not to pass all three.

One bill would ban all storage, grinding, mulching and composting of yard waste in municipal parks, but Commissioner Dave Brumfield worried it would prevent other services like grinding up storm debris that falls in the parks, grinding up old Christmas trees each winter, and spreading mulch around municipal trees and gardens.

The second bill would prohibit composting of yard waste in the parks, which would not preclude the use of The Beast for grinding, but raises questions about when the "composting" technically begins.

"My concern is that as soon as it comes out of The Beast, it's 'compost,' " said Commissioner Joe DeIuliis.

The third proposal would ban mulching and composting of leaves collected by the municipality, requiring the commission to find another place to do its grinding and composting.

But trucking the leaves to a facility used by the South Hills Area Council of Governments at Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in Pleasant Hills would cost an extra $171,000 a year in tipping fees, fuel and labor costs, said Public Works Director Tom Kelley.

None of the bills would have to pass in order to implement a proposal by Commissioner Matt Kluck.

He suggests that the municipality lease The Beast to a private contractor in Carnegie, then truck all of Mt. Lebanon's leaves, branches and yard waste there. The municipality would have to pay back a $117,000 state grant it used to purchase the grinder, then lease the machine to the contractor for $1 a year.

"A public-private partnership would relieve a problem, and could serve as a benchmark to other communities," Kluck said.

The commission meets again July 25. It is not yet known whether a vote will be scheduled on any of the bills.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)