BENTON COUNTY — Benton County planners and staff visited the Fayetteville operation of USA Metal on Friday as they prepare for a public hearing on the company’s plans to operate a metal recycling center near Gentry.
Tom Smith, chief operating officer of USA Metal, gave members of the Planning Board and the Planning Department a tour of his company’s Fayetteville facility, explaining how the company handles the scrap metal brought to the site by customers.
The tour included a demonstration of the machine USA Metal uses to crush vehicles into small squares for ease of transportation. The machine plucked a wrecked Volkswagen off a concrete pad, hoisted it into the air and lowered it into the crusher. The top and side panels of the machine then closed and compacted the metal. Smith said the company typically operated the crusher at each of thecompany’s locations once a month.
He told the group the machine could crush as many as 150 vehicles in an eight hour day and will also be used to compact other loose scrap metal items gathered at the site.
At its Nov. 21 meeting, the Planning Board held a Technical Advisory Committee review of a proposed large-scale development plan from USA Metal for the company’s property on Arkansas 59 near Gentry. A public hearing on the proposal, with a period set aside for public comments, has been scheduled for the board’s meeting at 6 p.m. today.
The company began operating there in October without having gone through the planning process and was sent a notice to cease operation until it obtained the required approval.
Smith told the Planning Board at its Nov. 21 meeting his Gentry facility will be “a feeder yard” for his larger metal recycling operation in Lowell. Smith said the company has a similar feeder yard in Fayetteville.
Smith said the company primarily buys junked or wrecked vehicles from individuals, drains anygasoline, oil and other fluids and stores it for resale, then crushes the vehicles on site before transporting them to Lowell. The company also buys other types of metal for recycling and resale.
The company began operating near Gentry in October. The county learned of the operation when neighbors complained. A cease and desist letter was sent to USA Metal directing it to stop operating at the site until its plans are approved by the Planning Board.
Chris Ryan, county planning and environmental director, said the company is still working to provide information requested by the county about the operation. Ryan said a stormwater permit was issued for the property when it was proposed as a location for another business, but USA Metal has no permit for the metal recycling operation it is proposing.
Mark Curtis, Planning Board chairman, said he was pleased with the site visit, but many questions remain to be answered.
“I was impressed with the facility,” Curtis said. “It seems that the operation can be run in an industrial setting that allows for thenoise to be spread across an area to cause minimal interruptions in the daily lives of everyone who has to live and work around it.
“Overall, it’s one of the cleanest recycling sites I’ve ever seen.”
Curtis said the noise from the operation is a concern, as is the volume of traffic it could generate for the Gentry location. He said the absence of a storm-water permit is also a problem, as is the proximity of homes and a school.
News, Pages 3 on 12/05/2012