Rock crushing plant gets OK from Monroe zoning commission

Chris Pawlowski of Solli Engineering, presents Monroe Recycling and Aggregates LLC's request to build a rock crushing facility on 467 Pepper Street during a January 5 Monroe zoning board meeting.

MONROE — A building materials supply company won approval from Monroe planning and zoning officials to build a rock crushing and screening plant.

The town's Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday voted 4-1 to approve the proposal. Monroe Recycling and Aggregates LLC will crush brick, concrete, asphalt paving fragments and other materials. It will also make products that include screened topsoil, screened dirt fill and bedding sand.

"We're happy with the outcome and look forward to getting this up and operational," Chris Pawlowski of Solli Engineering, the firm hired by Monroe Recycling and Aggregates, said in an interview.

The crushed rock material would be sold to area contractors who would use the material for roadways, sidewalks and other construction projects. It would also be used by the company's owner, Joe Grasso Jr., who runs a construction company that has worked on safety improvements along Pepper Street.

Engineers hired by the company said the rock will be crushed in the enclosed building, which would house crushing machines and rock screeners — equipment that separate rocks into different sizes. Inside the facility, conveyor belts would carry the rocks to the machines and form piles that vehicles would pick up and offload into storage bins.

Water sprinklers over the bins will help control dust. A set of walls made from concrete and boulders would prevent the facility from impacting nearby wetlands, according to a project application.

The project had previously raised concerns among a few planning and zoning commissioners worried about dust impacting nearby wetlands and affecting people using the Housatonic biking trail.

Pawlowski said the company agreed to make several changes to the proposal, including moving a screener into the enclosed building and reducing the number of excavators and other equipment at the facility.

The company also previously agreed to provide quarterly reports on materials it uses, and to not crush steel rebar.

A draft of rules presented by Town Planner Rick Schultz Thursday would require the company to agree to a process for the town to monitor noise from the facility. Those same rules would also require reports when the company upgrades the facility.

"If there are any deviations, they gotta come back to the commission," Schultz said.

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@AndyTsubasaF