Recycling plant pollution?
April 24, 2013 3:14 PM   Subscribe

The local garbage collection company is trying to put up a recycling center. Yay! Recycling is good! However, they're putting it smack middle in a rural residential area that, inexplicably, has pieces zoned commercial and the residents aren't pleased.

The residents (I am included in this) are concerned about noise, water, and air pollution from the center itself and the parade of garbage trucks going in and out. There is a city commission meeting coming up about the center's placement, and I'd like some resources to use to argue that while I'm all for recycling, co-locating the center with residential property will cause more harm than good. There are plenty of other locations close to this one that is away from houses and parks, and I'd like to use some data to back up the assertion that they need to choose somewhere else. Any ideas?
posted by skittlekicks to Law & Government (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I used to serve on a city committee, and the strongest thing I'd recommend is: learn the rules.

Specifically, at each stage of the approval process there'll be things are within the purview of each committee and set of people. Lots of voices saying "this is bad, stop this thing!" are easy to ignore as cranks. People saying "This violates the city's general plan", or "we have the authority to make this business pay additional impact fees based on the vehicle traffic along these routes which aren't built for those trucks" get a lot more attention, and are actually doing something useful. Lots of voices saying "this is bad and we shouldn't build it" are frustrating at best, and annoying at worst, because even if the people you're addressing agree with you, they have a limited number of options on how to stop that development.

And if they don't stay within the law in how they attempt to stop the development they could be opening up the entity they serve (city, county, etc) to lawsuits which simply means the development gets built and the municipality is out legal fees.

Presumably at this point there's a development proposal and a staff report. That staff report will touch on the things that are actually under the purview of the commission, but there's probably more. Educate yourself that much, and limit your comments to the commission to the issues that the commission actually has say over. That'll get you a lot more cred in public comment.

And consider contacting either your favorite city council member, or one of the commission members, and ask what issues the commission or the council will actually be able to decide on, and what data they need to make that decision. Then help them get that data.

And I specify one member because, at least here in California we have the Brown Act, which means that not only can't a quorum of committee members discuss a committee issue outside of an official meeting, they can't have a "serial" meeting either, and information conveyed between members by a third party can still constitute a serial meeting. Thus they're all going to be concerned about giving you any useful information if there's any chance that you'll have a conversation with other members, share that information, and put them at legal risk.
posted by straw at 3:40 PM on April 24, 2013 [3 favorites]


Best answer: A good idea to attack the problem is to look at traffic impacts. In what condition is the road to the facility? is it built to handle the truck traffic (streets have to be significantly thicker and better built to take constant truck traffic)? are the corners wide enough to allow the trucks to turn without causing problems? will idling trucks waiting to enter the facility snarl traffic or is there a good spot on site the trucks can queue up and turn around? What distance is the closest water well? what are its hours of operation? if after dark is the light pollution a code violation? Are they going to screen the facility(both from sight and from wind blown garbage leaving the site)? what is the waste water provisions (is there municipal sewer available and are drains going to be installed to take the runoff to the sewage treatment plant or to the local river?)

You need to be aware of the various zoning ordinances and how development is reviewed in your area and what is required by the governing authority or you come off sounding like just another nimby nutcase who probably also protests cell towers and the like based on some warped view of the world (Doing this review is my job and trust me, we see waaaaay more of the nutcases and nimbys than concerned citizens who have a rational objection to bad development). To make your case you are going to be up against professionals who do this for a living and probably have money on the line. Go well armed and make sure you have a valid case.

Also maybe you are being a nimby (I am not trying to judge, just offering the other side of the argument and maybe a point or two you might not have considered). These things have to go somewhere after all. We all produce garbage and recycling and that too has a cost. They may be saving significant amounts of gas/diesel by the location. Maybe this is the farthest possible spot from a municipal water well. These are low value/marginal businesses at best and the land cost in commercial areas may make the recycling business untenable and then if they can't build here than no recycling will go on in your area. The developers/owners know that their is going to be opposition no matter WHERE they go (who wants to live next to a dump/transfer station/sewage treatment plant/windmills/high power lines/etc?) and the so this may be the best, most tenable spot for the business/operation.

Of course it could just be that someone unloaded this land cheap and the waste management company is trying to slip one by and haven't done their homework (i unfortunately see this also, but the nimby thing is WAY more common).
posted by bartonlong at 4:05 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'd like some resources to use to argue that while I'm all for recycling, co-locating the center with residential property will cause more harm than good.

That is as may be, but it's not necessarily going to help you any. Land use planning is not a question of the optimal use of land. This is, more or less, a free country, and zoning commissions don't necessarily get to be terribly technocratic about things a lot of the time, particularly in rural areas. Indeed, I'm a little surprised that there are zoning regulations in your area, as many rural areas simply don't have them at all.

You want to fight this? You need to show that the planned use violates the zoning restrictions. If it doesn't, the owner will have the right to build the recycling center there, and the municipality can't do very much about it without changing the zoning itself, which requires legislative action. That's hard, as it turns out.

But if it does violate the zoning restrictions, the game still isn't over. Zoning commissions routinely approve "variances" for proposed building projects. This is where the rough and tumble happens. Building permits for projects that comply with zoning restrictions can't really be withheld. But zoning commissions have discretion as to whether or not to grant variances, and they're totally allowed to exact concessions from the property owner in exchange. There's a limit here--can't look too much like bribery or extortion--but reasonable restrictions on the project and requirements that the property owner pony up for infrastructure improvements are bog-standard in these sorts of negotiations.

So what you want to do is make sure the property owner has done their homework, and figure out whether and if so to what extent the project goes beyond the uses permitted in the zone as of right. This may involve hiring a land use attorney, because odds are decent that this isn't something you're going to be able to learn on your own. But of all of the concerned neighbors pitch in a few hundred bucks a piece, we could be talking about some real money pretty quickly. If the project does require a variance, this attorney can make sure that your interests are adequately represented in the negotiations by bringing your concerns to the attention of the zoning commission in a way they're likely to understand and listen to.
posted by valkyryn at 5:26 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]


You need vocal people to regularly show up to every meeting and speak to the committee at Every. Single. Meeting.

Put up flyers at parks, grocery stores, etc..

Start a FaceBook page protesting the placement of the plant.

Yes, you need to know the rules and procedures for protesting the placement of the recycle plant, too.

Good luck!
posted by jbenben at 7:12 PM on April 24, 2013


The Minnesota chapter of the American Planning Association has a pdf online called "the citizen planner handbook." The term "citizen planner" is a good one to use when looking for resources online for this sort of thing. Search for terms like "citizen planner resources" and "citizen planner case studies."
posted by Michele in California at 8:53 PM on April 24, 2013


From your spelling and terminology I will assume you are in North America. If you are located in Canada, you need to look up what is called your community's Official Community Plan; if you are in the US, it is called a Comprehensive Plan.

These documents contain objectives and policies that provide guidance for planning decisions and land use. Check these out to see if the proposed recycling centre would somehow contravene the long term objectives or the policies for your OCP/CP.

Even if a proposed project is within the zoning restrictions, if it contravenes the the OCP/CP, it might not end up being approved by city council.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:08 PM on April 24, 2013


Zoned commercial, you say? That surprises me. The two larger private recyclers in my area are both in industrial areas far away from any residential. A key question is what available parcels your city has for this use, of course -- if the city as a policy point wants recycling badly enough they may be willing to grant a variance or change of use for the property, but either way there's probably a process for that where residents have some input.

Try to find out if there's a mitigation plan coming with the proposal, e.g. will there be berms or other features to minimize noise and visual nuisances, what entrances will the site have to what roads, and so forth. Make sure to criticize that as insufficient -- try to get estimates of traffic, of waste inventory, of related activity.

Does the same company operate any similar facilities already, nearby? Visit them, or visit comparable ones, and record your observations on photo, video, and in text. Present this all as thoroughly, soberly, and business-like as possible -- less This is going to ruin the neighborhood! and more There are serious negative impacts on quality of life associated with this proposal.

If possible, offer a reasonable alternative, e.g. A land swap with the closed truck maintenance depot would be much more suitable.
posted by dhartung at 2:43 AM on April 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


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