Meeting

Come to Public Hearing

Please find below the text that the STAP group is proposing as an amendment to the Zoning Regulations of the Town of North Canaan.

As you know, a public hearing of the matter was set last night to take place beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 13, 2019 at Town Hall at 100 Pease Street, No. 3, in the main meeting room.

Article VI Table Of Uses:

To propose an amendment to add the manufacturing, production and/or storage of Asphalt to the list of Prohibited Land Uses in all zones of the town of North Canaan.
This proposal is being specifically identified in accordance with the existing performance standards Art VII A-D, Art VIII Special permit uses A, C 1-6. As well as special InlandWetlands/Watercourse considerations.

Please plan on attending this meeting to support this amendment. 

Here's how to: Voice your objection!



Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!
    

Asphalt Mess

Cold Patch Asphalt

 

B. Metcalf Asphalt Paving product, East Canaan, CT.

This is what B. Metcalf is making up the hill from our house .. he makes it outdoors in an old gravel mine that sits above the aquifer that fills my neighbors and our wells... he is suing the town to put in a 4 million dollar plant so he can make LOTS more.

Dolores Schaefer Perotti
Facebook Post: March 19, 2019 at 5:28 PM (view post)


Here's how to: Voice your objection!

Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!

Vigilance

Cold Patch to Warm Mix Asphalt: The proposed Warm Mix Asphalt Plant is an oily and more toxic slippery asphalt slope

A few weeks ago the Canaan ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals) lifted the Cease and Desist order on B.Metcalf Asphalt and allowed them to keep manufacturing their Cold Patch Asphalt product in East Canaan. Why this expanded use of allowing the manufacturing a unique new product on this property was ever allowed - under a pre-existing “non-conforming” use - is a good question. As is the question at the root of the matter does “processing asphalt” mean “manufacturing asphalt”. But we cannot allow further expansion of any asphalt manufacturing on the 15 Allyndale Road property or the Metcalf property at 235 East Canaan Road where Metcalf is now seeking a court ordered permit (Hearing Date set for May 14, 2019) to build a plant to manufacture Warm Mix Asphalt. We must be thorough and definitive as a community. We need to insist that the North Canaan Zoning Board state that there is a difference between “processing” and

December 22, 2012 letter (click to enlarge)

“manufacturing” and that allowing “processing” was never meant to allow “manufacturing”. We need to insist that the letter of December 22, 2012 by the former Zoning Enforcement Officer regarding “processing of asphalt” at 15 Allyndale Road be clarified to state that “...processing of asphalt, brick and concrete intermittently with a portable crusher… and processing equipment to utilize millings.” was not intended and should not now be interpreted in any way to allow the “manufacture of a new and unique asphalt product” as a continuation of a pre-existing “non-conforming” use on either property. Regarding the Warm Mix Asphalt plant site modification plan submitted by B. Metcalf Paving, Inc. that is in court, we as a community need to be vigilant and actively seek advice and intervention on this matter from the State of Connecticut Attorney General and the DEEP where applicable, regarding water and air quality permitting and the State Statute CT Public Act 98-216 (22A-196) governing the site location of any “batching or continuous mix facility” located within one-third mile of a watercourse and within one-third mile of residential housing.

THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION IS NOW!

Please copy this message into your email: SUBJECT: Stop the Asphalt Plant in East Canaan CT
Send to:
zoning@northcanaan.org
selectman@northcanaan.org
cwhiting57@yahoo.com
christianallyn@gmail.com
attorney.general@ct.gov - William Tong
Maria.Horn@cga.ct.gov
deep.aquiferprotection@ct.gov

Sign petition online at
https://www.change.org/p/north-canaan-zoning-board-help-stop-the-asphalt-plant-in-east-canaan


Here's how to: Voice your objection!

Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!

STAP Sign

Here is a STAP sign to use as lawn or car window sign!

FOR PRINTABLE SIZE: 

1. Click image above then...
2. On image page right-click mouse button, select "View Image"
3. Select "Print" from "File" menu at top left of screen window
4. Display on Lawn or in Car Window.

Here's how to: Voice your objection!

Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!

Aquifer Risk

Housatonic Valley Association documenting North Canaan, Connecticut Wetland Soils & Aquifer Potential Areas

There is a potential aquifer under this property. This also risks contaminating the groundwater going to aquifers that feed town water well system and private wells .

BLUE CROSSHATCH AREAS are Surficial Aquifer Potential Areas Considered to Have the Greatest Potential for Ground Water Yield

Housatonic Valley Association documenting North Canaan, Connecticut
Wetland Soils & Aquifer Potential Areas (detail from original map).

Attorney General's Opinion on "...asphalt batching or continuous mix facility..." sites Sec. 5. This act shall take effect from its passage, except that section 1 shall take effect October 1, 1998. The language of the public act is quite plain. Any asphalt batching or continuous mix facility not in operation as of December 31, 1997, may not be located less than one-third of a mile from any of the sites listed. According to the information you have supplied to me, the Fedus Colchester plant is located within one-third mile of a watercourse and within one-third mile of residential housing and, as of December 31, 1997, it was not in operation. If those are the facts regarding the location of the plant and its operation, the currently pending application to renew the permit to construct the plant must be denied as the statutory language prohibits location of such a facility, inter alia, within 1/3 mile of residential housing and within 1/3 mile of a watercourse.

Here's how to: Voice your objection!

Share this information and our website at https://www.stapeastcanaan.com with your Social Media network. Thank you!

Voice your objection

Here's How to:

Voice your objection!

 

NO COLD PATCH OR WARM MIX ASPHALT: THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION IS NOW!

1) CONTACT to thank them for standing strong on this issue and tell them you don’t want to see any asphalt batching or manufacturing plant in Canaan.
North Canaan Planning & Zoning
℅ Town Hall
100 Pease Street
North Canaan, CT 06018

2) INFORM your neighbors and friends, and, if you are renting your home tell your landlord immediately. Please pass on this STOP THE ASPHALT PLANT website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org.

3) SIGN the petition against the Ben Metcalf proposal- sign petition online at
https://www.change.org/p/north-canaan-zoning-board-help-stop-the-asphalt-plant-in-east-canaan

4) EMAIL your selectmen selectman@northcanaan.org - tell them ANY asphalt batching or manufacturing plant is unacceptable in North Canaan!

State of Connecticut: Email Contacts:
attorney.general@ct.gov - William Tong
deep.aquiferprotection@ct.gov

Other Town Official Email Contacts:
Planning & Zoning - zoning@northcanaan.org
Charles P. Perotti - selectman@northcanaan.org
Craig Whiting (Selectmen) - cwhiting57@yahoo.com
Christian P. Allyn (Selectmen) - christianallyn@gmail.com
Inland Wetlands - c/o selectman@northcanaan.org


Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!
    

Featured

Read about it and watch the videos...


- Asphalt Dilemma Video - soon to be shown at the Salem Film Festival...
- Attorney General's Opinion on "...Any asphalt batching or continuous mix facility..." - contact your state officials...
- Here's how to: Voice your objection! - contact list...
- Sign Petition - your voice counts...
- Donate - to help get the word out...
- Timeline  -  (as of February 17, 2019)
- No Asphalt Video - don't let them change "Our" town...

Use as lawn or car window sign!

FOR PRINTABLE SIZE: 

1. Click image above then...
2. On image page right-click mouse button, select "View Image"
3. Select "Print" from "File" menu at top left of screen window
4. Display on Lawn or in Car Window.

Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!
    

How can we trust a Metcalf assertion that...

Trust?

How can we trust a Metcalf assertion that,

“The processing of cold patch on site will create no adverse environmental consequences. The sand and gravel would be used dry and mixed with a room temperature, environmentally green emulsifier…”. 

When data provided by Metcalf from Gem-Seal GemPatch Cold Patch Safety Data Sheet product used by B. Metcalf to manufacture their Cold Patch Asphalt says otherwise: 

“Section 3: COMPOSITION / INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS:  Diesel No. 2.”

How can we trust?

Here's how to: Voice your objection!



Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!
    

Asphalt Batching and Manufacturing Danger

B. Metcalf Paving, Inc is threatening Canaan’s health, air, and water by risking the batching and manufacturing of asphalt in our town.

Asphalt Batching and Manufacturing Danger 

• EMIT TOXIC FUMES - THAT WE WILL ALL HAVE TO BREATH

• ARE LOUD AND NOISY AND EMIT CLOUDS OF DUST AND STEAM - AIR POLLUTION RISK

• CAUSE PROPERTY VALUES TO FALL - WHICH MEANS AN INCREASE IN OUR TAX RATE

• ARE A DANGER TO AQUIFERS, THE RIVER, WELLS - A WATER POLLUTION RISK

STOP the Asphalt Plant. STAP! Say NO to this Asphalt Batching and Manufacturing Plant!

B. Metcalf Asphalt is seeking a site modification approval to be allowed to add a Warm Mix Asphalt Batching and Manufacturing Plant to their site on East Canaan Rd, adjacent to residential neighborhoods and 1/3 of a mile from the Blackberry River.

Warm Mix Asphalt Batching and Manufacturing Plant
site is adjacent to residential neighborhoods and
1/3 of a mile from the Blackberry River.

An asphalt plant could have a very negative impact on your home values . Studies show a very negative impact on home values – of up to a 30% decrease. And in a property value study by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League documented losses of up to 56% were found because of the presence of a nearby asphalt plant.

There is a potential aquifer under this property. This also risks contaminating the groundwater going to aquifers that feed town water well system and private wells . According to the U.S.Government, the " health effects from exposure to asphalt fumes include headache, skin rash, sensitization, fatigue, reduced appetite, throat and eye irritation, decreased fertility, adverse birth outcomes, liver damage, cough, and skin cancer."

Even a so called Green Mix facility only yields a reduction of about 33% leaving 67% of dangerous Asphalt Fume (inhalable benzene ) and crystalline silica in the environment. Once North Canaan has one asphalt plant, we will be contending with the possibility of having more. AN ASPHALT PLANT presents a real and present danger to the quality of life in our whole town.

Here's how to: Voice your objection!



Share this information and our website at https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/ with your Social Media network. Thank you!
    

Protect Our Town

Letter to the Editor: By Sally-Green

Protect Our Town

(CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE)