DETROIT, Mich. – Plans for an asphalt mixing facility in Detroit have been shot down for a second time; ASI wants to build the facility near Schoolcraft and Southfield Freeway.
Detroit’s Building Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) denied the permit, and ASI filed an appeal. Tuesday (May 17), the Detroit Zoning Board of Appeals denied ASI’s request and stood by BSEED’s decision.
The hearing was initially scheduled for February but was postponed to May.
Read: Residents in Detroit’s Grandmont Rosedale neighborhood voice concern about proposed asphalt plant
ASI’s attorney, Lawrence Walker, said, “My position is that building safety, and engineering department did not follow the law. The law requires them to do certain things with the industrial review committee.”
The hearing was more than two hours long and featured testimony from Walker and dozens of people who live in the Grandmont-Rosedale community who oppose the facility. Residents even organized a shuttle to take neighbors to the hearing if they needed a ride.
In response to ZBA’s decision, Walker said, “We provided evidence of environmental testing, noise sound graphic that shows that it is not harmful to the community. The community closest to the proposed use is supportive of the use. So there is no reason why they should not have granted my client’s request.”
Walker said ZBA’s decision could also be appealed, and he will encourage his client to do so.
After listening to what board members said after testimonies, Aminah Steger, President of Schoolcraft Improvement Association, said she is “happy, relieved and very happy. I think they understand our decision. This is our neighborhood. We’ve been here for years, and it should be a place of peace and tranquility, and to bring that asphalt plant here, it won’t allow us to have that.”
