Monroe zoning commission considering proposed rock crushing plant

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 has applied to build a rock crushing and screening plant in Monroe.

Monroe Recycling and Aggregates LLC is requesting a special permit to develop land at 467 and 485 Pepper St., where they plan to build the 9,000-square-foot facility. The site would include outdoor storage areas for rocks and construction material.

The project has raised concerns among a few Planning and Zoning Commission members worried about dust impacting nearby wetlands and affecting people using the Housatonic biking trail.

The zoning commission will hold a public hearing on the plan at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Town Hall.

The company has proposed for brick, concrete and asphalt paving fragments and other materials to be crushed by the facility. Along with crushed rock, the project would also make products that include screened topsoil, screened dirt fill and bedding sand.

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. That 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 owner, Joe Grasso Jr., head of The Grasso Companies construction company, which serves Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties, along with New York's Westchester County. The Monroe-based company has worked on a reconstruction of about 4,500 linear feet on Pepper Street for safety improvements.

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.

Even so, some zoning board members have expressed concerns about the proposal in meetings.

Town planners said Monroe prohibits recycling facilities. Leon Ambrosey, a member of the zoning commission, is worried the town's planning department wouldn't be able to monitor the facility.

If the dust control sprinklers fail, Ambrosey said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, "there's no way we can monitor them."

Ambrosey expressed concern with plans to crush asphalt, which he worries could end up on the Pequonnock River.

"If it gets into the soil and into the water, it’ll end up in the Pequonnock River," Ambrosey said.

Chris Pawlowski of Solli Engineering, the firm hired by Monroe Recycling and Aggregates, told board members last month that the proposal isn't for a recycling operation, despite the name of the company.

"It's kind of like Patagonia takes milk jugs and turns them into jackets. We're taking aggregate materials and turning them into finished products," Pawlowski said in an interview. "It's a manufacturing facility."

Pawlowski added that proponents are disclosing a list of materials the facility plans to use. The town's wetlands commission, which approved the proposal this week, is requiring them to give monthly updates on the project. The town's zoning enforcement officer will also be monitoring the project, he said.

"There's multiple levels of inspections that'll be ongoing," Pawlowski said.

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