Proposed NY C&D Facility Runs into Opposition

Rieco Properties duked it out with its Oceanside, NY, opponents in an all-day hearing before the Town of Hempstead Zoning Board of Appeals last week. 

A recycler of construction and demolition debris, Rieco proposes to build a facility in Oceanside. The central issue before the board was whether the materials Rieco would recycle might be "noxious" and "offensive" to its neighbors in the Oceanside Cove, Ocean Harbor and Ocean Lea sections of town.

In his opening presentation, Rieco's attorney, Jack Libert challenged the standard itself, calling it "vague" and "too broad," and said that the zoning board "has no jurisdiction in the matter," citing numerous similar cases in which the standard was not upheld. Board Chairman Gerald Wright said he believed the board did have such jurisdiction, but that Rieco had the right to appeal the case with the state Supreme Court.

Lawrence Schillinger, an attorney specializing in waste management, and Richard Galli, an environmental engineer, testified that a mixture of waste would be trucked to Rieco's indoor facility, weighed, dumped indoors, separated into categories, crushed and stored in covered containers on the property for no more than 90 days. Rieco would take in about 1,500 tons of debris daily, about half of which would be recyclable; the other half would be refuse, transferred back out within 48 hours.

The facility would feature a dust-suppression system consisting of mist that pushes airborne dust to the ground, and a ventilation system with dust filters on its fans. And while some concrete would be dumped outdoors and hosed down to suppress its dust, it would not be recycled but rather reloaded and shipped out.

Rieco would deal only in "uncontaminated materials," and there would be "absolutely no asbestos materials at the site," Schillinger said.

Wright and board member William Weitzman told Schillinger and Galli that they both believe brick and cinder blocks, which Rieco would recycle, can absorb asbestos, particularly when these masonry materials are 50 years old or older. Galli said that, to the best of his knowledge, cinder block and brick do not absorb asbestos.

"The labor inspector's job is to test that material," Galli added. "All asbestos material is supposed to be abated before coming to the facility. And as long as less than 1 percent of asbestos is in the air, it is not deemed hazardous."

Schillinger said that while Rieco's recycling activities would run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week, the facility would be open 24 hours, receiving trucks through the night and early morning. At peak hours, between 3 and 7 p.m., a maximum of 14 trucks would drive to and from the facility. Rieco expects to receive a maximum of 199 trucks a day, an average of eight trucks an hour over a 24-hour period. The former tenant of the property, a petroleum company, had an average of 7.5 trucks traveling to and from its facility every 24 hours, Schillinger added.

Both Wright and the opposition, represented by Nassau County Legislator and Ocean Lea resident Jeff Toback and attorney Murray Greenspan, noted that Rieco's traffic at peak hours would require its doors in the dumping areas to open often, causing the dust to travel outside. Pressed by Wright, Galli said that despite the suppression system and employees who would hose down newly dumped materials around the clock, some dust would likely escape outdoors.

Within approximately a mile of Rieco's site are five recycling companies, including Stoney Creek Industries, Gator Transport Corp., Cousins Metal Industries, Fantozzi Brothers Construction and Liotta & Sons. Residents complain that excessive noise, dust and smells come from some or most of these businesses.

Robert Eschbacher, a traffic engineer testifying for Rieco, conducted a traffic study of the intersections closest to the proposed site, the busiest being Daly Boulevard and Long Beach Road. His study assumed not 14 but 20 trucks each hour traveling to and from Rieco during the busiest time slots on weekdays and weekends. Using a standard employed by traffic engineers in various levels of government, Eschbacher measured the average time of delay of vehicles at an intersection.

"[Rieco's] additional traffic will not adversely impact the intersections surrounding the site," concluded Eschbacher, who has 27 years of experience conducting such studies.

Toback and Greenspan asked if Eschbacher's conclusion took into account that his data is from studies during fall and winter months, when traffic is less voluminous, and from 2000, before two superstores (Michael's and Bed, Bath & Beyond) opened near Daly and Lawson. Eschbacher said he did account for these factors, but that they wouldn't seriously change the level of traffic volume at the intersection.

"Fourteen trucks coming and going each hour out of 3,000 vehicles is not going to make a significant impact," Eschbacher reiterated.

"You didn't take this survey with these 199 trucks out there on the road, so you really don't know what the actual impact will be," Wright told him.

John Breslyn, a real estate appraiser, testified for Rieco that the proposed site of Rieco's facility is consistent with heavy industrial use. "As to the property values, these facilities already exist and they are not going to change from this facility," he said.

Toback, who lives near the proposed site, asked Breslyn, who has extensive experience appraising properties throughout Long Island, if he knew of other areas with numerous recycling facilities near residential areas. Off the cuff, Breslyn cited areas in Westbury, Smithtown and Islip, all of which are located near landfills, too.

At hearing's end, several Oceanside residents addressed the board, most of them expressing concern over the potential health effects of Rieco's operation. Among them were Toback, who said that Rieco "would only add to" the "noxious" and "offensive" problems, such as dust, noise and vibrations, that he has experienced living near the other recycling facilities in the area.

In his closing statement, Libert addressed the skepticism the opposition showed toward the initiatives he and his witnesses said Rieco would take. "I know that this area has a lot of uses that smell, emit dust, that there is working going on that is illegal," he said. "This board is not an enforcement agency for those illegal uses. There are agencies within and outside the town that are charged with the obligation of taking care of violators. It's almost like the good are punished for the sins of the bad." Oceanside/Island Park Herald, NY