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Ballston Responds to Asphalt Plant Controversy
BALLSTON SPA — The Town of Ballston Spa is responding to a group of residents going by “Citizens for a Clean Environment” that have been opposed to the sitting and operation of the Dolomite asphalt plant in the town since 2011. The asphalt plant is located in Curtis Industrial Park at 831, Route 67 in Ballston Spa.
After lengthy deliberation and a $4 million lawsuit against the town by Dolomite in 2016, the planning board granted conditional approval to the plant and Dolomite dropped the lawsuit. Citizens for a Clean Environment are saying that important conditions have still not been met by the plant. Major concerns included the hours of operation on the weekend, Route 67 improvements, improvements to the Zim Smith Trail and the size of the silos on the plant. Other concerns of the Citizens for a Clean Environment site the visual aspects of the plant, the smell, traffic and noise as well as the air pollutants.
In Ballston’s response, made by the town’s attorney Debra Kaelin, all concerns were addressed and were in favor of the concerned citizens. The town agreed to not allow Dolomite to operate unless a route 67 turning lane was installed and Zim Smith trail signage was made, all before April 30.
“Last month, the Building Department and I sat down with representatives from Dolomite to review and emphasize the importance of compliance with the conditions of their agreement with the Town,” said Kaelin.
“It was made clear that Dolomite must comply with all conditions. Dolomite’s representatives agreed and communicated to the Town they want to be good members of our community. All parties are working together to make sure the plant’s operation is handled within the confines of the courts’ decisions.”
However, Claudia Braymer, attorney for the Citizens for a Clean Environment, maintains the 70-foot silos, the turning lane at route 67 and the Zim Smith rail signage were supposed to be in compliance before Dolomite began operations. According to Braymer and planning board, the silos at Dolomite asphalt plant were supposed to be 40-feet in height.
Ballston’s town board, building and zoning department determined that the silos are equipment and they were not subject to the maximum height requirements.
“Those silos are much more visible than the project elements that the Planning Board reviewed and approved. The 70-foot silos, plus the industrial plumes from the asphalt plant, have a negative visual impact on the community,” Braymer wrote.
“The hoppers (silos) being that large give them the ability of producing more asphalt which is one of the things the planning board strenuously limited them on their production capacity; and everyone in the community was worried about them just becoming a massive production operation,” she said.
“The lawsuit settlements still says they have to comply with all of the other requirements in the code and obtain any other necessary permits... Well, my argument is they need the variance from the ZBA and they need to go back to the planning board to get approval to for those 70- foot-high silos.”
