A city zoning board has shut down a controversial plan to expand and intensify concrete crushing in the Schoolcraft Southfield neighborhood.
Following a lengthy hearing on Monday, Dino-Mite Crushing and Recycling owner Green Valley Properties was denied an appeal to expand operations on its 12.3-acre site on Greenfield Road.
Last year, the company applied with Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) to broaden operations, but in December, BSEED denied the request citing resident opposition, permit violations and a recommendation to deny from the city’s Planning and Development Department.
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For neighbors, the chief concern has been troublesome dust from the operation that cakes their windows, cars and lawns and whether that contributes to negative health impacts.
Dino-Mite received a permit in 2019 from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to crush up to 600,000 tons of concrete each year at the site nestled within the residential neighborhood.
Monday’s hearing spanned more than three hours due, in part, to substantial back and forth between the concrete crushing company’s legal team and the city’s counsel and confusion among board members.
BSEED’s original denial of the application was due to the concrete crusher being in violation of its permit and of city codes, said Dan Arking, an attorney for the city. He said BSEED wanted to bring the facility “into legal compliance” before any more permitting could be issued.
“(BSEED) was not going to permit facilities that were operating in violation of its existing zoning grants,” Arking said in the hearing.
The company has amassed nearly 300 blight violations from BSEED over two years.
Michael Weiss, an attorney representing property owner Anthony Calo, said the company submitted the application to improve the site. The company sought to add rumble strips, pave part of the ground, and connect to the city’s water system to reduce dust from the operation. B
“We’re not here to ask to expand in any way shape or form,” he said, denying that the permit request was to expand the property. Instead, he said, the company was trying to implement the dust mitigation measures in response to resident complaints and to combine its properties under the same permit, which Weiss said BSEED asked for. Calo’s team also insisted that none of the properties in question were in violation.
Arking disagreed with many of the statements from Calo’s team.
“Those lots are directly contributing to the operation and it’s simply not credible to say that those are…. not part of the facility,” he said.
Residents spoke out online and in person during the public comment portion of the hearing, urging the zoning board to deny the appeal.
“I ask that the BZA vote against this… it’s pollution,” said nearby resident Diane Patterson.
“I can literally attest to being blinded (by dust) when I was trying to go from Greenfield to (I-96) east.”
George Perdue, president of the Schoolcraft Southfield neighborhood, added that the concrete site is “the worst thing that has ever happened in our community in the 30 years that I’ve been here.”
During the hearing, the appeals board and public commenters critiqued Weiss several times for commenting that Green Valley “didn’t care” about the outcome of the hearing.
“The business will not change in any appreciable way whatsoever,” Weiss said. “We don’t care if you do it or not,” he said, contending that the permit wouldn’t affect operations because it wasn’t being sought to expand, just to bring the properties all under the same permit.
Arking noted Monday that in his ten years with the city he’s never encountered a petitioner that had to be chastised twice by the board to provide more respect to the community. Multiple times the board told the Green Valley team to stop saying they didn’t care about the outcome of the hearing.
Perdue said Weiss’ comments were a good summary of what the neighborhood has been experiencing.
“So what that means – what happened here today, (Weiss) doesn’t care, so tomorrow is going to be more dust, more dirt piles and more dump trucks,” he said.
A separate lawsuit filed by the city against Green Valley seeking to revoke its land use permit is expected to be heard in the Wayne County Circuit Court at 11 a.m. May 2, after being ruled against by the Department of Appeals and Hearings and appealed by BSEED. In the meantime, the company continues to operate.
To learn more about the issue, check out this video made by our partner, Detroit PBS, formerly Detroit Public Television, featuring BridgeDetroit.