Planning & Zoning Approves Mulching and Topsoil Processing Operation

An earth materials processing operation was approved for the old D’Addario sand and gravel pit on Button Shop Road Thursday by the Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission after the applicant assured neighbors it would not cause odors or noise problems.

Christopher Genduso of CERES Earth Materials said he the operation would produce and stockpile mulch and topsoil, and it would not conduct retail sales at the location.

Project engineer William F. Carboni presented the application for a special exception. He said the operation would process wood, brush, stumps, grass clippings and leaves into mulch and composted topsoil.

The grinder and screener machines would only be on-site when they were required, and then would be removed to other locations for use for similar operations.

Fred Ruggio of Shelton and Vince Cuocci of Middlebrook Road, both of whom own property on the other side of the railroad tracks that pass by the east border of the property, said they were concerned about truck traffic, noise, odors and the effect the operation might have on property values.

Carboni said trucks would access the site from Route 25 to the west and would not normally cross the railroad tracks. A hill on the east side of the property would block machine noises from the neighborhood across the tracks.

He noted that the property had been used as a sand and gravel pit for 50 years and has lain unused for more than a decade, so the proposed use would improve property values if it affected them at all.

Genduso said the composting would only use natural processes on materials you would find in the forest, and therefore it would cause no offensive odors. The compost operation would not use manure or food wastes, and the mulching operation would not use perfumes.

PZC Chairman Lilla Dean said an aquifer impact assessment report concluded the operation would have no adverse effect on ground water resources.