Massachusetts’ top environmental official has certified that a draft environmental impact report for the proposed Industrial Drive waste-transfer station complies with regulations, a declaration that moves the controversial project another step forward.
In a decision dated May 1, Secretary of Environmental Affairs Ellen Roy Herzfelder called upon project proponent Valley Mill Corp. of Lee to include a discussion of alternative sites that were considered when it presents a final environmental impact report.
She encouraged the company to leave the undeveloped portion of its land as open space, and to consider conveying the land to the city.
The decision lists 28 comments received from the public on the draft EIR. Two of the responses were petitions containing the signatures of 500 people and 15 people, respectively.
Valley Mill Corp. proposes to build a station that would receive and process up to 250 tons a day of construction and demolition debris, including asphalt, brick, concrete, wood waste and scrap metal. The facility would generate about 50 vehicle trips daily -- half of them by truck -- and 90 percent of the material would leave the station by train, according to Herzfelder's finding.
Located on a 13-acre slice of land between the Housatonic Railroad and the southwest branch of the Housatonic River, the facility would consist of a 15,600-square-foot building to provide cover for tipping, processing and loading of materials, a two-story office building, a truck scale, an access road and a rail spur.
The project is subject to a three-tiered review, including a review under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, a site assignment review by the Pittsfield Board of Health and state agencies, and a permit review by the state Department of Environmental Protection to operate a solid waste management facility.
Waivers will be required from the DEP because the waste-handling facility is located within a Riverfront Protection Area and within 100 feet of the southern property line, according to Herzfelder's finding.
Nearby residents have said they were not informed of the project before the issuance of an order of conditions by the Pittsfield Conservation Commission last September. However, Herzfelder noted that Valley Mill Corp. subsequently "complied with the enhanced public participation requirements of the [state's] Environmental Justice Policy by publishing the availability of the environmental notification form in alternative media outlets."
Last month, residents of the area turned out en masse to question the project during an informational meeting held at City Hall.
"I received many well-reasoned and thoughtful comments on the [draft EIR], most of which indicated opposition to the project because of its location on the only unpolluted portion of the Housatonic River, including a petition signed by over 500 Pittsfield residents," Herzfelder wrote.
" The proponent has indicated in a number of public meetings that several sites were examined and that this site was selected because it is zoned for light industrial use and because it provides access to rail to minimize truck trips. While it is not required as part of further MEPA review, a discussion in the [final EIR] regarding specific sites that were considered would be beneficial to ongoing public discussion about the project."
Herzfelder said the company should include a discussion of leaving the unbuilt portion of its land open to the public and consider conveying the land to the city's Conservation Commission or another entity to permanently protect it as open space.
The finding notes that projected vehicle trips would represent less than a 1 percent increase in average daily traffic on South Street or Route 7, where Industrial Drive connects.
The DEP "has indicated that the estimated truck trips may be low because they are based on an estimate of 20 tons of C&D waste per truck; however even if the amount of truck trips were doubled or tripled, the addition to average daily traffic on Route 7 within the project area would remain less than 1 percent," Herzfelder wrote.
She states that Valley Mill Corp. has proposed a number of traffic-related improvements, including the addition of a stop sign, possible reconfiguration of a curb cut and the addition of pavement markings on Industrial Drive.
If designed to "stringent environmental standards," the decision notes, the transfer station would complement the state's Beyond 2000 Solid Waste Master Plan, which calls for new construction and demolition debris processing facilities. Berkshire (Massachusetts) Eagle