Asphalt plant should stay right where it is
To answer a question posed by Mr. Eric Bogoff concerning the Wheeling Village Board, "What else is up your sleeve?"; how about an asphalt plant with a lovely concrete crusher owned by Orange Crush, LLC. You didn't know about that? Well join the crowd.
The existing asphalt plant on Wheeling Road is on property the village wants for a new Town Center, that would include condos, townhouses and retail.
The village allegedly contacted Orange Crush five years ago to acquire that property. The result is a current contract to rezone the vacated Public Works property on Hintz Road, so Orange Crush can relocate the asphalt plant to Hintz Road. This parcel is in a light industrial park (hence the reason for rezoning to heavy industry).
The new plant will be larger, and could include four 30,000-gallon silos rising 70-100 feet high. It is less than a quarter mile from the Ridgefield and Ridgefield Lane subdivisions; and a bit farther from Polo Run, Eastchester and Kingsport. Wheeling High School, JFH Academy, Lexington Health Care Center and Prospect Heights residents would be within 1-2 miles.
The plant can legally operate 6 a.m.-11 p.m.; Orange Crush will ask to start at 4 a.m. Between 200-400 asphalt trucks, weighing approximately 25 tons fully loaded, will load asphalt and unload concrete daily. Hintz Road and Noel Avenue would get the most traffic; the trucks would stack up along Noel Ave. (diesel engines idling) waiting to load.
According to Orange Crush, residents shouldn't worry about toxic or nontoxic emissions, particulate matter, vibration, noise or traffic; and no one can make assumptions about decreasing property values.
According to the American Lung Association, toxic emissions from the diesel engines contain some of the same chemicals in cigarette smoke: toluene, benzene, formaldehyde, arsenic and cadmium.
"Particulate matter," or soot, is composed of extremely fine particles often coated with chemicals and carcinogenic compounds. The U.S. EPA considers diesel exhaust a potential carcinogen.
Come add your voice to the 100-plus residents who attended the Dec. 10th meeting to oppose relocating the asphalt plant, at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 17 in the new Village Hall.
Mary and Walt Lesser
Wheeling