Avoca meeting heats up as LLC seeks exemption for residential waste station

Avoca, Lucerne Co. — Tensions reigned at an emergency meeting in Avoca on Wednesday after an LLC applied for a special permit to build a waste transfer station off Pittston Avenue and Main Street in an area zoned for light industry.

Several representatives from Big Rocks LLC, the company that applied for the special permit, gave a presentation explaining how the transfer station would work and hoping to ease residents’ concerns. For some, however, the result was anything but that.

Some residents and city council members have expressed concerns that this transfer station could harm the environment and surrounding areas in many ways, including noise pollution, health impacts and traffic problems, to name a few.

Rich Hansen, who lives in the Quail Hill community behind which the proposed transfer station is to be built, says he has more questions than answers after this meeting.

“As you can see from the crowd’s reaction, their briefing did nothing to address our concerns,” Hansen said.

According to Big Rocks LLC, more than 40 three-axle trucks filled with construction and demolition waste are expected to arrive.

The LLC also claims that no garbage or waste is retained at the transfer station.

During the meeting, Frank Hoegan, an attorney representing the LLC, said that despite concerns raised by residents about who would oversee the waste transfer station and exactly what waste would be received there, Hoegan assured that the facility would be subject to strict regulations by the Pennsylvania DEP and PENNDOT.

“I want them to understand that the organization is led by responsible individuals and is overseen by a number of state and local agencies. This is a process, an educational process, and it will take time to get our message across,” Hoegan said.

The arrival of such companies in the region proved to be a trigger event for many after the Kerr-McGee plant, a creosote-treating wood plant that operated for four decades, closed in 1996.

Some claim that the plant’s chemicals and carcinogens have caused cancer and respiratory diseases in humans.

“Many of our family members have died from cancers related to Kerr McGee. We just don’t want this kind of business in our communities,” Hansen added.

A meeting of the building committee was scheduled for September 3, but due to the reactions of residents, the meeting will be postponed in order to discuss their concerns in more detail.