Trash Debate Pits Economy v. Environment

A years-long fight over proposed expansion of an Annex waste-transfer station sparked a three-hour land-use debate — pitting a defense of jobs and corporate responsibility against warnings of malodors, vermin, a polluted river, and plummeting property values.

That debate played out Wednesday night during the latest monthly City Plan Commission meeting, which was held online via Zoom.

The subject of such spirited business-city-community contention was Murphy Road Recycling’s application for a site plan, a coastal site plan, and a special permit to expand its existing waste transfer station operations at 19 Wheeler St.

The applications call for allowing Murphy to take in up to 500 tons per day of so-called ​“putrescible” municipal solid waste (MSW) — aka, household garbage — from surrounding towns.

Currently, the solid waste facility on the 15-acre, Quinnipiac River-adjacent site is permitted to take in up to 500 tons a day of ​“non-putrescible” MSW, like cardboard and packaging. The plant is also currently permitted to take in up to 400 tons per day of construction and demolition debris as well as up to 67 tons per day of recyclable material.

The applications would not alter the current 967 ton cap of how much waste can be trucked in, sorted, and trucked out of the Wheeler Street site each day.

Instead, they would allow Murphy to take in ​“wet” as well as ​“dry” trash — and, presumably, allow it to increase its actual daily workload above its current operations at less than half of allowed capacity.

Wednesday’s public hearing — which the commissioners unanimously voted to continue to a special meeting on Dec. 2 — represented the culmination of a years-in-the-making dispute among Murphy Road Recycling, local environmentalists, Annex neighbors, and City Hall over the Wheeler Street plant.

Even though Murphy has scaled back its original plans to build a new, larger multi-million-dollar transfer station on the site, the push and pull over the potential economic benefits and environmental fallout of allowing garbage from around the region to come to New Haven have continued. While former Mayor Toni Harp supported the expansion, current Mayor Justin Elicker has opposed it — even as the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) issued a tentative approval earlier this month.

Murphy’s representatives, city-hired consultants, and a few public ​“intervenors” Wednesday made their pitches regarding the pros and cons of the proposed transfer station operational expansion. A flood of public testimony on the matter is slated to take center stage during next month’s hearing.

At stake is whether community opposition based on environmental and quality-of-life concerns can trump an established business’s claims that its operations are compliant with local zoning law, carefully regulated by the state, and critical to New Haven’s economic well-being.

“This facility provides an essential service,” argued Murphy’s attorney, Meaghan Miles. ​“It is an efficient aggregation point for local haulers. By aggregating loads of solid waste, it reduces traffic, it minimizes wear and tear on roads, and it decreases emissions.”

The single Wheeler Street site — which also includes the facilities, dumpsters, and garbage trucks for a separate company, All American Waste — employs 125 people and has contributed over $3 million in local tax revenue since 2007, she said. Not allowing it to expand operations to include taking in ​“wet” garbage from the region could have a ​“long-term deleterious effect on the city’s economic base.”

Local environmental activist Chris Ozyck, a so-called ​“intervenor” in the case and one of the few members of the public to get a word in Wednesday night before the hearing was officially continued to December, warned that such an expansion would only make worse the plant’s alleged current harmful impacts of heavy truck traffic, nearby rodent infestations, and untreated runoff into the river.

“I wish there was more enforcement. I wish there was more oversight. I wish these neighbors didn’t have to put up with what they’re enduring right now,” he said. ​“On the one hand, we can work really hard to improve our community. And on the other hand, one bad actor can come in and sweep it all away.”

Murphy: Trash Plant Expansion Is Good For New Haven

The bulk of Wednesday night’s public hearing was taken up by an opening argument by Murphy’s lawyer, operations manager, and various technical experts, including an odor consultant, about why accepting ​“wet” trash from throughout the region is an appropriate, well-regulated, and environmentally safe use for the industrial site.

Miles explained that the 19 Wheeler St. site currently hosts three different uses: Murphy Road Recycling’s solid waste transfer building, where dry waste, construction debris, and recyclables are trucked in, ​“tipped,” sorted, and trucked out every day; Murphy’s gas fueling and compressor station; and All American Waste’s truck hauling operation, which includes a garage, offices, storage containers, and a maintenance facility.

Miles stressed that previous City Plan Commission decisions about the transfer station’s operations have focused solely on the solid waste facility and not on the mixed-use site as a whole.

She said that All American Waste’s ​“storage areas are not part of the solid waste facility” run by Murphy Road Recycling, and therefore should not be taken into consideration when evaluating the merits of the proposed special permit, even if All American Waste’s trucks and storage will ultimately be bringing household garbage to the Murphy site.

“The special permit application is to permit a modification of the tonnage permitted,” Miles said. Not to increase it above the currently allowed cap of 967 tons a day, but rather to allow the site to take in up to 500 tons per day of both wet and dry MSW, as opposed to dry only.

“Putrescible” refers to ​“compost organics,” she said. ​“The material will originate from within 10 miles of the facility, but it will not originate from within New Haven.” That’s because, by city law, New Haven trash has to go to the city’s transfer station on Middletown Avenue, and nowhere else.

“Murphy Road Recycling will not violate city ordinance” and try to redirect city trash to its own transfer station, she said. So, instead, it will look tto the region for municipal customers.

Murphy’s Director of Operations Jonathan Murray said that the truck-flow for the site will stay as is, even if putrescible waste is permitted.

A truck will arrive at Murphy, check in with a scale operator about where it came from and about what kind of trash it’s hauling, weigh in, and then proceed to the transfer station.

That truck will be covered up until it goes into the enclosed building, he said, at which time it will tip its load onto the tipping floor, take in a new load of sorted and processed waste, cover its load back up, weigh out, and then be on its way to an out-of-town disposal facility.

“All of this takes a matter of minutes,” Murray said.

He said that inside the transfer station is a ​“misting system” that mixes water and an odor counteractant that will knock down any bad smells from the air and control dust.

There will also be four drains in the two outside load-out bays that drain into the city’s sanitary sewers. There will be no drains in the center five bays of the tipping floor.

Murphy-hired odor consultant Patrick Fennell said that his review of the site plans and proposed operations led him to conclude that the building would conform with federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and industry guidance, and would not result in an odor nuisance ​“except in unusual circumstances.”

And traffic engineer Mark Zessin said that adding putrescible waste to the mix should actually result in 76 fewer truck trips per day based on full capacity usage of the site, because MSW trucks have roughly twice the capacity of construction and debris (C&D) trucks. And some of the All American Waste trucks that are already parked overnight at the site won’t have to travel in and out as much because they’ll be able to trop off wet waste with Murphy instead of going elsewhere to do that work.

“New Haven is not self-sufficient with its waste,” Miles argued in her closing statement. The city develops roughly 1,000 tons of MSW each year, she said, and, after going through the local Middletown Avenue transfer facility, that waste ultimately ends up in other Connecticut towns and cities like Berlin, Hartford, and Bridgeport.

“Solid waste disposal is a strategic web of interdependent facilities heavily regulated by DEEP to operate efficiently and with minimal adverse impacts to the environment and communities,” Miles said. The Murphy Road Recycling plant on the Wheeler Street site is already in a heavy industrial zone, is already covered by a state Environmental Land Use Restriction (ELUR), and the putrescible waste bid has already been tentatively approved by DEEP after a 19-month review.

“I understand that this application is not politically popular,” she said. But the City Plan Commission should not bend to politics. Instead, it should follow the letter of local zoning law. ​“You can be certain that this will not adversely affect the neighborhood,” she said. ​“And it is our position that this facility complies with the zoning regulations.”

Ed Spinella, another attorney for Murphy Road Recycling, agreed.

“It’s not uncommon for us to go into a community and encounter some opposition, some disagreement,” he said. But other towns where Murphy Road Recycling operates all speak glowingly of their business once it gets up and running, he said.

19 Wheeler St.‘s economic impact on the city — providing 125 jobs, approximately 25 of which are filled by city residents — is profound, he argued. He claimed that anyone who criticizes the plant’s operations is de facto criticizing its employees.

“I think that you should all feel relieved that DEEP, that is charged with overseeing these facilities,” he continued, ​“has held our feet to the fire, and reached a conclusion that we can operate this facility in a safe way, in a way that will not endanger anyone’s safety and will protect the natural resources of the community.”

City-Hired Consultants: Beware Runoff, Vermin, Bad Smells

Murphy wasn’t the only side that had experts testify Wednesday on the proposed transfer station expansion.

A City Plan Department staffer also called on two engineering consultants and a real estate consultant, whom the city hired to conduct an independent review of Murphy’s proposal and the potential environmental and property value impacts.

Their respective assessments of the project were quite different from the sunnier pitch made by Murphy’s team.

They found that allowing for putrescible waste to be brought to the site, at least according to Murphy’s current plans, likely will violate city zoning laws around outdoor storage of waste in proximity to current residential properties, will not put a stop to current untreated stormwater runoff into the Quinnipiac River, and will likely cause a drop in nearby property values and, subsequently, the city’s tax rolls.

David Sousa, a landscape architect and certified planner with the firm CDM Smith, said that the expanded transfer station site would violate city law prohibiting loading docks, truck bays, storage, transfer equipment, and truck parking within 200 feet of a residential property line.

That’s because there are currently dozens of All American Waste’s trucks and dumpsters stored outdoors within 200 feet of residential use.

While those trucks and dumpsters may not technically be owned by Murphy Road Recycling, they are ​“clearly a use that is accessory to the use for which the applicant is seeking a Special Permit” because those trucks and dumpsters would haul and store new wet trash to be processed by Murphy.

“We don’t distinguish between a vehicle owned by Murphy versus other companies that are on the same property,” he said.

CDM Professional Engineer Scott Harley said that his review of the site plans and his recent in-person visit to the Wheeler Street site itself revealed that a large portion of the northern parking lot does not drain into the site’s existing catch basins, but rather discharges untreated runoff to an adjacent property, which in turn sends that runoff into the river.

Since the site will have outdoor dumpsters holding putrescible MSW if the applications are approved, he said, and since some of the runoff currently goes straight into the river, that means that adding wet trash to the allowable mix of materials processed at the transfer plant could result in contaminated runoff.

“The application should investigate alternatives to capture, treat and discharge this stormwater runoff to prevent untreated runoff from the site discharging to the Quinnipiac River,” he said.

Sousa said that CDM’s review of the applications ​“suggests that the proposed development is not in compliance with city regulations.”

Guilford-based real estate analyst Stan Gniazdowski also warned the commissioners about the potential ramifications of approving Murphy’s wet trash application.

His cautionary words applied to how this new use might affect nearby property values.

His conclusion: Not good.

Gniazdowski said that most of the residential properties in the nearby Annex and Fair Haven neighborhoods are multi-family apartment rentals.

He said that, if the introduction of putrescible waste causes unsavory odors to emanate nearby and results in an increase in rodents attracted to the area, that will almost certainly result in broken leases, less desirable rentals, lower assessments, reduced property values, and lower taxes paid to the city.

He said that other Murphy Road Recycling transfer stations in South Windsor, Suffield, and Waterbury are located no closer than a quarter-mile to nearby residential properties. The Annex site would be located within 350 feet of a residential neighborhood.

“If odors and vermin issues increase, tenants will not renew leases, negatively impacting income, property values and ultimately real property taxes,” he said.

Intervenors Intervene

As a prelude to the December hearing, which will include testimony from the general public, Wednesday’s City Plan Commission meeting featured a few questions and brief testimony from so-called ​“intervenors,” a half-dozen concerned members of the public trying to stop Murphy’s operational expansion out of a concern for the potential environmental and neighborhood impact.

Those intervenors first asked Murphy’s lawyer and technical experts a slew of clarifying questions after the latter’s initial presentation.

“Is any of the trash going to be on the ground itself?” asked activist Nancy Alderman. And, if so, ​“will it be lined?”

Murray responded that there will be no liners, as those are typically used for landfills, not transfer stations. And that the putrescible waste will only go on the ground when inside the concrete-floored transfer station building, and not outside of it.

At what capacity is the facility currently running? asked Save the Sound’s Roger Reynolds.

“Roughly 40 to 50 percent of our total capacity,” Murray said.

What happens if the site does hit its 500 tons-per-day MSW limit? asked local attorney Marjore Shansky.

“If they hit the 500-ton limit, other trucks are redirected” to other waste transfer and disposal facilities elsewhere in the state and are not allowed into the Annex transfer station, Miles said.

And, in theory, could Murphy Road Recycling take in 500 tons per day of only wet waste, if the applications are approved? asked New Haven Urban Design League President Anstress Farwell.

In theory, yes, Spinella said. But that would mean scrapping Murphy’s existing non-putrescible MSW customers. He said Murphy currently brings in around 200 tons per day of non-putrescible MSW. If they were to try to bring in 500 tons per day of wet trash only, that would mean dropping their current customer base.

He also said that roughly 40 percent of putrescible MSW is organic material, while the remaining 60 percent is dry. The latter absorbs any free liquids produced by the former, he said, leaving little to worry about in the way of seepage onto the floor.

Are diapers considered organic? Farwell continued. Will soiled diapers be brought into this facility if the applications are approved?

Yes, Spinella said. ​“But we don’t anticipate that we will bring in 500 tons a day of diapers.”

Just before the 10 p.m. end time of this first stage of the public hearing, Ozyck warned the commissioners that ​“what’s past is prologue,” and that concerns that neighbors currently have about loud and congested streets, river runoff, bad smells, and rodents will only get worst if putrescible waste is allowed in.

He said that he and fellow citizen opponents to the Murphy expansion have been door-knocking in the area, and spoke to roughly 20 neighbors who all had concerns about the site’s current impact on the neighborhood.

“These folks didn’t know that their neighbors also had rats,” he said. ​“They all just thought it was them.”

Click here to watch a video recording of a few neighbor testimonies about the Wheeler Street site.