MOREAU, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A recent land sale at Moreau Industrial Park that would have brought a regional waste management company to town has been tossed. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Moreau Town Board, Town Supervisor Todd Kusnierz announced that Twin Bridges will no longer be setting up shop in the town.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Kusnierz said that correspondence had come from the attorney of Scott Earl, the outgoing current owner of Clifton Park-based Twin Bridges Waste & Recycling, retracting the offer to purchase three plots of land at the industrial park for $725,000. First announced in June, the sale would have encompassed about 10.5 acres of land – and been sold at a 30% premium over the land’s base value.

“(The withdrawal is) unfortunate for our community, because that would have meant an influx of cash to the tune of $725,000 that could have been utilized for expanding our recreation opportunities, additional trails in our town,” said Kusnierz. “The unfortunate part is we’re going to have to find other ways to try and accommodate that type of growth in our community.”

Kusnierz has cited recreational developments as a big goal for money generated by the sale, as well as the plan to bring a Saratoga Biochar fertilizer plant to the park. Additionally, the supervisor said that the South Glens Falls Fire Company was hoping to use funds from the sale to purchase a new fire truck.

Talk of Twin Bridges’ land purchase in June came shortly after the news that the company itself was being sold to Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems – an organization set to be involved with operations at the controversial Saratoga Biochar plant. As of a NEWS10 conversation with Kusnierz in June, it was not known whether the 10.5 acres would be used for waste processing, a question that was set to be settled between the company and the town planning board.

While town government has celebrated the sale of parcels of land at an industrial park that has only had one tenant since the 1990s, residents have felt differently. In July, the names of 1,003 of those residents were presented to the town clerk on a petition for referendum on the Twin Bridges sale. The referendum will no longer have to take place.

In an interview last month, “Not Moreau” movement leader Gina LeClair said that residents were concerned over the company’s environmental impact, the truth behind who would actually be managing the would-be facility, and the impact on the many residential roads that trucks would have to take to get to the plant. For her and some neighbors, the concern is whether companies like Twin Bridges and Saratoga Biochar are the right scale for their community.

“I remember having a conversation with three landowners near the park saying we should change the delineation to light industry – that would include things like Jack Hall, Michelin shops, and small businesses,” LeClair told NEWS10. “I met a man doing petitions who said he wishes it was all small businesses. He has a growing small business, and there’s not going to be anything there for him when he wants a location for his own business.”

Scott Earl could not be reached for comment.