Planners Veto Tire Recycling Proposal

Extra truck traffic. Fire hazards. Possible pollution and costly cleanups.

The Pasco County Planning Commission, New Port Richey, Fla., raised a score of concerns Aug. 13th about the proposed tire recycling plant in Masaryktown, Fla., but ultimately it came down to this: The plant would be a bad fit for this rural community straddling the Pasco-Hernando county line, board members said.

And with that, the commission unanimously recommended against the project.

"I didn't think it was compatible with the area," commission member Hugh Townsend said afterward. "I didn't feel the safety issues were addressed to my satisfaction. It was just not appropriate to vote in favor."

That vote won't be the last word. But it gives a hefty advantage to the tire plant opponents when the issue comes before the Pasco County Commission for a final decision Aug. 26.

"This is a community victory," said Ron Nickerson, one of the Masaryktown residents leading the opposition. "This is something where everyone stood together to keep the quality of life in our area the same."

Pasco County Synergy LLC originally proposed to shred and burn up to 200 tons of tires a day on a 19-acre site at U.S. 41 and Fontaine Avenue. The company would have used an electricity-generating incinerator to disintegrate the tires at 1,400 to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

But the group dropped the incinerator plans after county planners said the tire-burning equipment could go only on industrially zoned property.

"My clients are in the process of looking for industrial property elsewhere for the waste-to-energy," consultant Fred Lowndes said, referring to the tire burning facility.

The company pressed forward with its proposal to shred tires on the Masaryktown site, which would require a conditional use permit from the Pasco County Commission. Pasco Synergy president Dan Krevsky said the rubber mulch could be sold for recycling or use in other plants that burn tires.

He insisted the project would be "environmentally green" and wouldn't disturb the neighbors.

"We don't really seem to be that obtrusive to anyone in the area there," Krevsky said.

He said the plant would start small, accepting about 80 to 100 tons of tires a day. With each delivery truck carrying about 20 tons, the plant would see only four or five trucks a day, he said.

Resident Ray Barone disagreed with Krevsky's math, however. A delivery truck might be able to haul 20 tons of a compact material such as sand or rock, Barone said, but the trucks have space to carry only about 200 tires, or about 2 tons of tires. That would mean 40 or 50 truckloads a day to start, he said.

Krevsky said the material didn't make a difference.

"Twenty tons is 20 tons on a truck," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's feathers or if it's tires."

Others questioned Krevsky's assertion that the plant would take tires only from Pasco County.

At its peak, the plant would accept 20,000 tires a day, seven days a week. That's 7.3-million tires a year - more than a third of the 19.5-million waste tires generated statewide last year, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"Somewhere in there logic has to tell you, we'd have to be changing our tires three times a year to keep them in business," commission member Calvin Branche said.

The planning commission voted against the entire project, including the stalled incinerator plans. The plans could resurface later if Pasco Synergy is allowed to withdraw them, but the company cannot resubmit the plans for a year if the County Commission rejects them.

In a related matter, the planning commission voted 5-4 against a proposal to rezone 3.57 acres of the Pasco Synergy site from agricultural to commercial. The rest of the 19-acre site already is zoned for commercial use. St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.