A recycling center in Greenville, approved in 2016, is seeking to increase its approved hours of operation before completing construction on its sorting building.
Greenville Recycling is a private waste management business located on Blanch Farm Road that recycles construction materials including coated and painted asphalt, brick, and concrete.
During a meeting Thursday, the Greenville Planning Board met with Chad E. Branon of Fieldstone Land Consultants, who was representing Greenville Recycling for a conceptual consultation with the board. A conceptual consultation is not a formal filing, but allows the applicant and board to discuss any obvious issues the applicant may wish to address in an upcoming filing.
Greenville Recycling has already been given the go-ahead for operation once by the town, in an approval of plans that happened in 2016, but has yet to fully complete construction on the site. Branon said before the construction on a materials sorting building is complete, Greenville Recycling wishes to come back before the board to amend its plan. One point to be addressed is the size of the sorting building, which the company wishes to make smaller than first approved. Potentially more controversially, they are also seeking to change approved hours of operation, to allow for two work shifts.
The sorting building was originally proposed to be 180-feet by 280-feet. The newly proposed design would be 120-feet by 275-feet.
Members of the board said they did not see an issue with changing the size of the building, so long as it met the town’s 35-foot height limit.
The second amendment sought would extend the approved hours of operation. Currently, approved plans limit hours of operation to normal business hours. Branon said to accommodate a second shift, Greenville Recycling would run 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and then 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
However, he said, to reduce noise, after 5 p.m., the only work being done on site would be inside the sorting buildings. While machinery such as a conveyor belt and skid steer would be in operations in the building, there would not be truck traffic or other machinery in operation past that point.
Board members had concerns about the proposed late hours.
“I think 11 p.m. is late for that,” Chair Michael Sadowski said. “That’s a lot of noise until 11 p.m.”
Board members said that in addition to hearing from abutters about the possible change in hours, they would also like more specific information on the noise levels created and the equipment that would be operating at that hour.
In a separate conceptual consultation, Branon also spoke to the board regarding the approved condominium development on Barton’s Ridge, located on Pleasant Street. The development plans for a 55-unit open space residential development were already approved by the town in 2020 and construction is currently underway, but Branon told the board developers will be seeking an amendment to the plan, after discovering a significant amount of ledge in the proposed development.
Branon said developers will not be seeking to change the number of units, or the configuration of single-family or duplexes already approved by town boards. It will seek approval of new locations for those units, in order to avoid having to break up existing ledge.
“It’s a shuffle, but there is no loss or gain in density,” Branon said.
The board did not offer any objections to the initial proposal.