YORKTOWN, N.Y.—The Yorktown Town Board is mulling a change to its zoning code to prevent large-scale recycling/construction debris processing plants like the one proposed for Navajo Road from being an acceptable use.
The Town Board will hold a public hearing on the matter at its Sept. 17 meeting, Supervisor Ed Lachterman said.
The proposal for the ATRAC Recycling Center, which is currently before the Planning Board, includes a 40,000-square-foot building, an entrance weigh station, and access for trucks and equipment. The proposal was put forth by Pat Cartalemi of AAA Carting, which recently signed a contract to become Yorktown’s trash hauler.
According to documents submitted to the Planning Board earlier this year, the solid waste management facility proposed for 76 Route 6 would handle 3,600 tons of construction debris per week as a construction debris transfer facility and 250 tons per day as a recyclables handling and materials recovering facility.
The property is zoned “I-1” as a light industrial park district, which currently allows for a facility such as ATRAC.
“The C&D debris transfer operation will incorporate limited recovery of recyclable metals and unadulterated wood from the tipping floor before loading the debris into transport trailers,” the proposal said. “C&D processing (crushing and screening) operations will not be employed at this facility.”
For the recyclables, the proposal includes a handling and material recovering facility with “a small sorting station and baler for recovered recyclables [that] will be loaded out using the loading dock at the north end of the building.”
There would also be space for trucks to be parked onsite.
The scale of the project, which is on a relatively narrow stretch of Route 6 bordering Somers (and near the border with Mahopac), has drawn concerns from residents and town officials.
“The code as written, which goes back to even before my time on the board, was intended to allow for recycling small household items within the town,” Lachterman said. “We want to remove it as an acceptable use because the original law wasn’t defined properly.”
Lachterman said the volume of construction and recycling material in the proposal would mean “100-140 trucks per day” going in and out on an area accessed by relatively narrow sections of Route 6 and 6N.
Lachterman said the potential impact would affect the environment and the neighborhood. Lachterman said that with its proximity to Somers, residents and officials from that town have also shared their concerns about the project.
“The presented plan is nowhere near what the intent of the law called for,” Lachterman said. “We’re considering whether to remove a recycling plant as an acceptable use” until a more specific code can be written.
“Changing the recycling use would not restrict the landowners in other uses for the property,” Lachterman added.
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