Town Investigating Complaints Against Site-Ready Materials

Tiverton is investigating Site-Ready Materials & Recycling Co. after the business denied the town building official access to the facility and at least two residents have filed formal complaints.

Site-Ready Materials applied for a special uses permit to expand its waste management facility on the north end of town in the spring of this year. The Planning Board has met twice about the matter since May 19.

At the Tuesday, Oct. 9 Town Council meeting, more than a dozen residents attended to speak in opposition to the expansion, despite the fact that the council has no jurisdiction over the acceptance or denial of Site-Ready's application.

"I called [Site-Ready Atty. Eric Brainsky] after the first Planning Board meeting where the plan came up for hearing [in May] and he hadn't gotten back to me so when saw him just prior to the council meeting at the Planning Board meeting [on Sept. 25], I asked again then and he said no," said Gareth Eames, Tiverton's code enforcement officer.

Eames said his office does not typically tour every existing business that requests a special uses permit.

"It depends on what they are applying to do," he said. "But I wanted to do it because of the reaction from the public that I had heard."

Eames said he was unable to attend the Planning Board's May 15 tour of the facility due to a scheduling conflict and was "playing catch-up."

Site-Ready is seeking a special uses permit approval by the Planning Board to allow for the construction of two 25,000 square-foot, 40-foot tall buildings that would process up to 1,500 tons of of recyclable materials, construction and demolition debris and municipal solid waste daily.

Residential neighbors to the site are concerned the increased activity would cause pollution, noise and smells as well as clog roads with an estimated 740 trucks per day.

While Eames could not specify the nature of the formal complaints filed against the business, he said they concurred with concerns raised at the Oct. 9 meeting.

"I can't tell anything about [the complaints] other than general terms," said Eames in an interview on Thursday. "If I were to give out names of complainants, even more feuding would go on than already does."

During the the Town Council meeting earlier this week, residents expressed concerns that prohibited activities were already taking place on the Site-Ready grounds. Town Administrator James Goncalo told the public that the town was exploring legal avenues to gain access to the property. Town Solicitor Andrew Teitz said he could not comment as to what specifically those avenues are.

Eames however, said he could obtain a warrant in an extreme case where a homeowner or business owner refused the code enforcement offical access to a property.

Over the next few weeks, Eames will check the validity of the complaints and move forward with the investigation, he said.