JAY — Several people toured the proposed site and operation of Clark’s Riverside Scrap Monday at the former Otis paper mill property.
The Board of Selectpersons were taking up an application for a junkyard and automobile recycling permits on Monday night.
The Planning Board will consider a shoreland zoning permit application because part of the operation will be within 250 feet of Androscoggin River, and a floodplain permit application for the proposed business at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, at the Town Office.
The business will also file for a solid waste license from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP representative Bill Butler walked the site Monday along with Jay selectpersons, Planning Board members and a couple of residents who live close by the proposed operation, accompanied by the company’s project manager, Leon Dorr.
MAC Development LLC, owner of the former Otis Ventures LLC mill property on Mill Street, intends to lease a 4-acre parcel to Clark’s Scrap Metals, which is proposing to do business as Clark’s Riverside Scrap. John Clark III of Farmingdale is a principle of MAC Development and owner of several scrap-metal recycling companies in Central Maine.
The site will serve as an export/shipping location for all Clark’s locations, according to the permit application. The operation will be set up at the far north end of the property.
Dorr led the tour and explained where each part of the operation will be located. The plan is to install two concrete storage slabs, two large scales and extend the rail line into the property for use. They also plan to use an existing building for material storage. A dirt surface will be paved to use as a road leading to the building.
The company will build a 20- by 40-foot brick building for office space, using bricks from the mill, Dorr said.
“We do want to keep some historical value,” he said.
The area will be fenced with a gate that can be locked when not in use. Pan Am Railways will have a key to the gate to enable them to continue to check its railroad tracks.
The number of trucks that will come to the site during daytime hours on Monday through Friday — and Saturday in the future — will depend on the industry, but it is typically between two and seven, he said.
Elm Street resident Paul Gilbert said he was concerned about noise because if there is a lot of noise, his family’s property value will decrease.
Dorr explained that when a train sits and idles on the tracks that abut the former paper mill, it is louder than anything the company will have at the site.
There will be a couple of noise barriers, he said.
It is anticipated there will be four to six rail cars kept on the property to be loaded.
The train tracks run between the backyards of houses on Main Street and the proposed Riverside Scrap operation. A recreation trail also runs between the houses and railroad.
The town of Jay does not have a noise ordinance, Dorr said.
What may be considered noise to one person may not be noise to someone else, he said.
There is a noise standard under the solid waste license regulations, Butler said.
Dorr said the company’s operation is typically well under the state’s standard.
It is most likely people will hear the heavy equipment and not the crusher, Butler said. There is also a statute related to processing of materials.
The company is required to keep records that will be reviewed monthly and quarterly, Dorr said.
It also proposes to move the overhead power lines closer to the river to prevent any equipment from coming in contact with high-voltage lines.
There will be an oil-water separator unit installed and a subsurface with an outfall to a plunge pool. Safety provisions will be installed to prevent any hazardous material from going into the river, he said.
There will be $90,000 in federal grant money, which is distributed to the state, involved in the project. The company has to provide matching money, Dorr said.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
Send questions/comments to the editors.
