Cold-mix asphalt plant OK'd
After a 3½ hour meeting that included a public hearing, the Slippery Rock Township Zoning Hearing Board approved the special exception for Hei-Way to operate a cold-mix asphalt plant on its New Castle Road property.
The board approved the measure 2-0 after an executive session that followed a hearing where multiple people who live and recreate in the township disagreed with the exception.
The exception allows the company to operate the plant, which is deemed heavy industry by the township's zoning ordinance, despite the property being rezoned for light industry in June.
About 18 people attended virtually. Some expressed their concern about potential pollution of Slippery Rock Creek, among other issues.
During the public comment session, Jamie Hammond, a resident of New Castle Road, said she had concerns about creek pollution, noise and other disturbances.
“We're downstream from all of this,” Hammond said. “We call this home. This is the area we love. We'd hate to see anything happen to it.”
Hei-Way's property borders the intersection of New Castle Road and Stoughton Road to the south and extends further south to Slippery Rock Creek.
The approval was granted with the promise of conditions that will be submitted to the applicant and later made available to the public.
In an interview Wednesday, board chairman Tom Gaul said these conditions have not yet been finalized, but may include additional screening, berming and other requirements. He said many of the conditions may also coincide with requirements by state departments.
“I'm sure the DEP and the EPA are just as concerned about the Slippery Rock Creek as everyone who called in, as are the township people,” Gaul said. “Nobody wants to see anything happen to the waterways.”
Some of the dissent focused on the hearings medium, an online Zoom conference call.Chris Coleman of Worth Township lives on New Castle Road, just two properties west of Hei-Way's property. Hei-Way's attorney, Joseph Charlton, objected to every instance of Coleman's questions and testimony during the hearing, because he was not an “aggrieved” party as defined by zoning hearing procedures.Charlton said an aggrieved party would be those whose property abuts the property in question.In addition to voicing many concerns about pollutants during the hearing, Coleman objected to the meeting being conducted online, the board only having two members present during the hearing, and for the approval of the exception.“I completely object to this meeting,” Coleman said. “We are not able to properly represent ourselves.”Coleman was joined by at least three other online participants who disagreed with the hearing moving forward in the online setting. However, those conducting the meeting said there were deadlines that needed to be met.In an interview Wednesday, Gaul said the board had to follow COVID-19 protocols and limitations.“We would have much rather had it in-person,” he said. “That, too, is beyond us.”Gaul also said the board had to proceed with the hearing and decision because it had to meet procedural deadlines set by state law.“There's a timeline for when they apply for the hearing and when we have to have the hearing,” Gaul said. “If we didn't have the hearing, it would have gone through as an unconditional approval, so we wouldn't have had a say at all.”
Elias Heilman, owner and vice president of the company, testified as a witness in the hearing in which his company argued it would have minimal impact on the environment and community, and it would follow all necessary safety precautions and environmental standards.The proposed plant is the “size of a Walmart tractor trailer going down the street,” he said.Heilman was one of four witnesses to provide testimony with the remaining three paid by his company to conduct surveys and analysis of its cold-mix asphalt plant in Sarver.The Sarver location was at one point described as a “carbon copy” of the plant envisioned for Slippery Rock.Heilman testified that the cold-mix process is much less intrusive and a smaller operation than a hot-mix plant.Plans for the site include being operational from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days per week with between 35 and 45 production days per year.On production days, trucks would rotate into the site hourly to deliver materials for mixing the asphalt. Once mixed, it would then be placed in a stockpile on a designated pad.Nonproduction days will likely include customers' trucks entering the site, being loaded by machines and then departing.Scott Foreman, a senior project manager for Hampton Technical Associates, testified that stormwater management tactics to be used at the Slippery Rock property would meet standards for pollutants and runoff entering Slippery Rock Creek, likely through the use of retention ponds.Joseph Pezze, owner and consultant for the Hillcrest Group based in Wexford, testified that his review of the Sarver location showed no visible signs of fugitive emissions, such as dust, and that odors would not emit long distances.Robert Orchowski, another consultant with the Hillcrest Group, testified that the noise levels were within normal levels at the Sarver site with one exception, the banging of tail-gates from trucks pulling away from loading or unloading at the stockpiles.“I've been told by Mr. Heiland that the truck drivers will be instructed to move away from the pile slowly to avoid that banging,” Orchowski said.
Marcia Carnahan, whose property abuts Hei-Way's location across the road, entered into evidence traffic patterns she witnessed over about a week and mentioned the nuisance of “Jake Brakes.”Manufactured by Jacobs Vehicle Systems Inc., the loud compression brakes are used by truckers going downhill and where not prohibited by law.“When my husband and I built this house, it was a dirt road,” Carnahan said. “We never expected all this traffic. We don't need any more trucks.”While Charlton didn't object to Carnahan's evidence since her property abuts Hei-Way's, he objected to evidence presented by Paul Boas of Slippery Rock Township, Lawrence County.In addition to asking many questions related to the environmental impacts of the plant, Boas took issue with the public's inability to view Hei-Way's evidence in advance of the hearing.“Hei-Way has the opportunity to hire all the experts,” Boas said. “This is all being relayed on us as if it's the gospel. It's really sort of a meaningless effort because we haven't had an opportunity to rebut the things Hei-Way brought tonight.”
