INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A proposed recycling center that would handle construction and demolition debris, including concrete, received preliminary approval Thursday night but still faces community opposition and a hearing before the Board of County Commissioners.
The Indian River County Planning and Zoning Board spent more than two hours listening to the applicant and its opponents before voting unanimously to recommend approval to the County Commission.
The Indian River Aerodrome community, located 1 1/4 miles northwest of the proposed center, objected to the project, citing concerns with noise, odor and concrete dust.
This “interferes with the peaceful existence” of the residential developments, attorney BJ McClure told the Planning and Zoning Board during the public hearing.
He, and others, told commissioners that dust from the concrete stored on site could escape the property, carried by the wind and affect the Indian River Aerodrome residents’ planes.
McClure likened the concrete dust to “dumping a handful of sand into the engine.”
“It poses a hazard” to the Aerodrome, he said.
Fernando and Beatrice Garcia-Sartor, of Indian River County Recyclers, purchased a 16.6-acre site directly across 74th Avenue from the Indian River County Landfill specifically to open a recycling center.
Under the county’s current rules, a recycling center is not allowed to handle concrete and demolition debris, necessitating their request for a special exception.
As part of the request, the Sartors opted not to seek concrete crushing. However, their representatives Thursday night refused to bind them to that long-term.
“We can’t look in the future,” attorney Barry Segal told the commission, eliciting groans and murmurs from the nearly 100 people in the audience.
In the event the Sartors decide they want to have concrete crushing on their property, they would have to go through a similar process to what the original project is currently undergoing.
Indian River County Utilities Director Erik Olson told the Planning and Zoning Board that the recycling center project – with construction and demolition debris processing – would be very similar to that which is already done across the street at the landfill.
“There is virtually no difference,” Olson said.
Though the Planning and Zoning Board did not get assurances from Sartor’s representatives that no concrete crushing would ever be sought for the property, the members approved the project.
County Attorney Bill DeBraal reminded them they were not allowed to deny the project based on something that might happen in the future. Instead, they had to review the project as presented.
In the board’s recommendation to approve the construction and demolition debris special exception to the Board of County Commissioners, Planning and Zoning Board Chair Sam Zimmerman and fellow member Brad Emmons are encouraging the County Commissioners to find some way to gain assurances that no concrete crushing would happen on the site.
