PERINTON, N.Y. — It was standing room only at the Perinton Community Center Tuesday night, with hundreds of residents from the surrounding community hoping for answers.

In the spotlight: Waste Management, whose "High Acres Landfill" in Perinton came under scrutiny last September when neighbors began to report strong odors coming from the landfill.

"We moved here from the city, we never had these issues in the city and now even our dog doesn't want to go outside it’s so bad. When we have parties in the summer, we have to be inside. It's frustrating,” said Jackie Cushman, of Perinton.

According to the Fairport Central School District, the smell even affected local classes.

"My older son is ten, and he did say he smelled it at the playground,” said Colleen Sousa, of Perinton. “I asked him if he smelled it at school, and he said ‘yeah, there are days that it just stinks.’ He said ‘I don't know what it is mom, but it stinks.’"

But Waste Management says they are addressing the problem. Steve Poggi, director of Local Disposal Operations at the landfill, says there are a number of factors causing the odor to get worse.

He cites an increased amount of precipitation, which can affect methane release from the landfill. He also says a change in gas release technology has affected the amount of gas released from particularly smelly areas of High Acres.

"We have gas recovery power plants here, two plants were shut down and the gas automatically gets directed to enclosed flares. Because that happened really quickly, they could not adjust to that flow and so it takes time to get adjusted to a point where it can manage all that gas," said Poggi.

While Waste Management says they plan to provide recommendations to the Perinton Town Board on the 24th, the board still plans to petition the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to impose more monitoring and reporting of landfill gases.