Waste management facility granted land-use permit in Niles Township

Published 9:09 am Thursday, September 15, 2016

Despite strong opposition expressed by many residents, Tuesday night the Niles Charter Township Planning Commission voted 5-2 to approve Earth Smart Environmental Solutions’ special land-use permit for a waste management facility at 1400 Third St.

This is the second time since June that Earth Smart Environmental Solutions, a waste treatment and storage facility based in Florida, appealed to the township for the application.

“I know people are scared and I understand that,” said David Hux, a co-owner of Earth Smart Environmental Solutions. “Everything we are about is really green.”

Before the hearing, Hux said that he hoped the meeting would serve to educate residents who had expressed concern about the facility.

Hux and co-owner Kevin Forney addressed the commissioners and about 40 residents packed into the township hall. Many of the residents who attended live in a subdivision near Third Street.

Hux said the aim of the facility was to temporarily store three types of materials which will be transported from veterans hospitals: non-hazardous, hazardous and medical waste.

The waste would be transported in 55-gallon sealed barrels that would contain items like fuel, pharmaceuticals, bandages, mercury devices and aerosol cans. There would also be receptacles for oily rags and filters, which would be cleaned through a steam and heat process called autoclaving. The materials would then be transported to a waste treatment facility to be recycled.

Hux said that the facility would comply with Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Transportation regulations.

Residents who showed up Tuesday night overwhelming voiced opposition and shared a fear that the materials could potentially leak into the nearby Brandywine Creek and contaminate drinking water. Some said they feared the facility would blemish the natural forest and waterfront beauty in the neighborhood.

“I grew up here and we used to be able to drink our well water,” said Nancy Calay. “We are hooked up to city water due to pollution and I think this just might add to it. I think there are other options besides a waste system.”

Resident Akos Kovach, who has spoken out against the facility in prior hearings, also attended on Tuesday night and presented commissioners with a petition containing 60 signatures. Kovach had also brought a separate petition to the June hearing.

Since the 1960s, the property at 1400 Third St. has been home to several operations, including the former Green Giant Mushroom Plant and a synthetic rubber plant in 1999.

The building, which has largely remained vacant, has collected a host of illegal dumping debris: mounds of dirt, oily car parts and garbage.

In the spring of 2015, Earth Smart Environmental Solutions purchased the 23,000-square-foot building. Hux said that with the property in their care, the illegal dumping would stop and the facility would not have any outward showing of waste.

“Please understand that the outside of the facility you are not going to see a dump,” he said. “We don’t put anything in the ground, on the ground, in the air or in the water.”

Commissioners approved the permit with several terms attached, including the ability for township authorities to have access to and be able to inspect the building at any time, and for the current building to be inspected for structural integrity.

Hux said he was excited to be a partner with the Township and, although there was work ahead to be done, he was looking forward to the next step.

Earth Smart Environmental Solutions will next have to obtain permits from the state.