Carting company’s desire to bring more truck traffic to central Norwalk likely to be approved

NORWALK, Conn. – A private transfer station in the vicinity of much Norwalk development is likely to be greenlighted to double the amount of debris it is allowed to take in.

AMEC Carting, LLC, has been seeking approval from the Zoning Commission to have a 60-day trial period on opening its Crescent Street transfer station to the public and doubling the amount of construction and demolition debris it accepts, from 200 tons per day to 400 tons. The Zoning Commission’s Plan Review Committee on Thursday recommended allowing AMEC to increase the debris it takes in, but commissioners were decidedly against opening the transfer station up to the public. The Zoning Commission will vote on this Wednesday.

The transfer station is in close proximity to the Devon’s Place playground at the Stepping Stones Museum for Children and the partially constructed Waypointe development. If the Zoning Commission votes to allow the increased tonnage it won’t happen soon – AMEC must go to the state to change its permit, Assistant Planning and Zoning Director Mike Wrinn said.

“My understanding is that is not a quick process,” Wrinn said.

Commissioner Nora King said that is good because by the time AMEC gets its permit Norwalk will have a much better idea of how Waypointe will affect the traffic in the area. The Zoning Commission plans to do a traffic study of the effects of the trial period of increased AMEC transfer station traffic and the results will be more relevant, she said.

This won’t be your standard traffic study, Wrinn said. An outside firm will study the situation to see if AMEC’s trucks are queuing up and affecting traffic flow and if they are obeying general traffic rules.

King said she had been in that area about a week ago. “I almost got run off the road by one of their trucks. They were driving in the middle of the road near the gas station,” she said, referring to the intersection of Butler and West avenues.

That was part of an argument against opening the transfer station to the public. Norwalk is trying to do good things in that area, she said, with the renovations to the Lockwood Mathews Mansion and attempts to increase pedestrian usage of the streets.

Commissioner James White said he agreed with King.

“This really goes back to the original application where they guaranteed us that they wouldn’t come forward and ask for more than they were approved for originally and we’ve gone way beyond that now. I can go for the increased tonnage but I am completely against (opening it up to the public),” White said.

This story was done from a recording of Thursday’s Plan Review Committee meeting.