Slippery Rock Twp. zoning board approves report related to cold-mix asphalt plant
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Concerned citizens packed into the Slippery Rock Township’s municipal building on Thursday morning, April 25, as the township’s zoning hearing board rendered a decision related to a proposed cold-mix asphalt plant.
The board voted to accept findings of fact regarding the plant’s compliance with the township zoning ordinance as it relates to odors produced by heavy industry.
Residents at the meeting feared the board’s first action in nearly a year regarding the proposed cold-mix asphalt plant, which would be operated by Heilman Pavement Specialties, paves a future for the plant to be built at 490 Stoughton Road near Slippery Rock Creek.
“It basically sounds like they’re accepting new findings without submitting it to the public first,” said Chris Coleman, who has been campaigning against the plant for years. “But we don’t know exactly what it is because they’re not going to release it until tomorrow (Friday), after they’ve already made their decision.”
He anticipates filing another appeal “if they make a bad decision.”
All members of the zoning hearing board, as well as township solicitor Alan Shaddinger, declined to speak to the Butler Eagle after the meeting, but during the brief meeting, Shaddinger spoke on the matter.
“The board believes that the standards for the odors were met … based on the evidence that was presented at the prior three hearings,” said Shaddinger.
The findings of fact are to be made available to the public on Friday, April 26, officials said during the meeting.
The zoning of the Stoughton Road property was changed from rural conservation to light industry at a hearing Nov. 22, 2021, and a special exception for what is considered heavy industry on light industrial land; and allowing a HEI-WAY cold-mix asphalt plant to be operated on the property was granted March 7, 2022. HEI-WAY, which is associated with Heilman, already operates a plant in Buffalo Township.
Shortly afterward, three citizens representing Save Slippery Rock Creek, or SSRC — Coleman, Marcia Carnahan, and Paul Boas — filed an appeal against the zoning hearing board’s decision to grant the zoning exemption to Heilman, citing concerns about how the plant would affect the nearby creek.
Action regarding the plant was put on hold for nearly a year as the appeal wound its way through the court system. That appeal was thrown out by the Commonwealth Court in late February.
The group of concerned residents behind the appeal crowded into, and even stood outside, the meeting room Thursday despite the inability to comment on the matter before the decision.
Shaddinger said that the board would not accept any public comment until after the decision was made. The board went into executive session prior to Thursday morning’s hearing, as well as on Wednesday, April 3.
“We're not holding a hearing today. We're not taking comments on the matter,” Shaddinger said. “The board had to meet in an open session merely for the purposes of determining whether or not they were satisfied with findings of fact relative to those matters that were sent back to the board by Judge Yeager.”
Some residents took issue with how the decision was rendered.
“This whole meeting just came as a big surprise, with very little notification,” Coleman said. “We were given only seven days’ notice.”
“It was basically window-dressing, allowing us to come in and hear the decision and then say things after they’ve already made their decision,” said Jim Highland. “It’s just disappointing that they didn’t want the public’s input on this.”
Highland is a member of Citizens' Environmental Association of Slippery Rock Area, which is assisting SSRC in its efforts to prevent the cold-mix plant from being built. The two groups are also working to prevent the creation of the Tri-County Landfill in Grove City, an unrelated project which also would be built along the creek.
“It’s actually one of the best trout fishing streams in Western Pennsylvania, so the fact that they want to do this is actually amazing,” Coleman said.
Heilman Pavement Specialties already operates a facility in Buffalo Township, on North Pike Road. That facility has recently been the target of complaints from township residents for disrupting the quality of life for nearby households.
