Where As, the Department of Public Works has submitted a request to the Council for a Conditional Use Permit for a City Yard to be sited on Out Lot A of the Tyler Hills development.
Where As, in the application, The Department of Public Works states the site will generate “Dust and Noise”.
Where As, the Department of Public Works has failed to completely address the following issues in their initial request and subsequent presentations.
1. Noise- the Department of Public Works consultants have indicated the site will be in violation of MN Rule 7030.0030 and MN Rule 7030.0040 for noise pollution.
2. Dust- The Department of Public Works has presented no clear and quantitative plan for monitoring and controlling Dust Pollution per MN Rule 7011.0110, MN Rule 7011.0120 and Red Wing Ordinance 55-100L for particulate and “Fugitive Dust” control.
3. Grievances-the Department of Public Works has provided NO process for reporting problems or guidelines and time frames for resolving the inevitable citizen complaints that will result from items 1 and 2. This may lead to ongoing citizen complaints to the Council and possible future litigation and Regulatory Oversight.
4. The Department of Public Works has failed to provide any other site options to the Planning Commission and Citizens for consideration and comparison.
Where As, the Conditional Use Permit process is used to determine if a use is suitable to a specific site. Per Red Wing Ordinance 10-040(70.5) the City Yard is not suitable for Residential areas and this site adjoins a Residential area. This is the underlying problem for Issues 1, 2 & 3.
Where As, this Conditional Use Permit will be used in justification of an additional Conditional Use Permit which will allow the City of Red Wing to MINE the ASH PITS and PROCESS them for HEAVY METALS using a PROCESS UNPROVEN in North America as it only recently began in rural Washington state.
Where As, the Department of Public Works has failed to thoroughly vet the one existing LabUSA operation in the United States.
Where As, the Department of Public Works admits this operation will require a Solid Waste Permit and Solid Waste facilities are not permitted in Residential areas.
Where As, the Conditional Use Permit for the ASH MINING and HEAVY METAL EXTRACTION facility has failed to clearly or quantitatively address the following issues.
1. Dust-this operation will be mining, transporting, processing and
retransporting previously interred ASH. Public Works has provided no clear plan for dust control beyond “it is wet” and “best practices”.
2. Heavy Metals-the extraction process will be concentrating heavy metals including more than 1000 lbs. per year of Mercury. No clear and quantitative plan has been provided for controlling the concentrated Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Nickel , Chrome or other metals.
3. Noise- the Application fails to clearly and quantitatively address potential noise issues other than to state “most of it will be in a building”.
4. Missing information-the public application fails to provide building floor plans and exterior elevations as required by Red Wing Ordinance for Conditional Use Permits.
5. Transparency- the application provides no information about the proposed process or associated risks to the community and environment.
6. Expertise-the Department of Public Works as the applicant has NO EXPERTISE in designing or operating a heavy metal extraction facility. Nor will Public Works be operating it and therefore should not be the applicant.
Where As, the above stated reasons raise serious concerns whether these Applications for Conditional Use Permits are in the best interests of ALL of the Citizens of Red Wing.
Therefore, We the undersigned, respectfully request that the Council DENY the Department of Public Works applications in their entirety and the Department of Public Works be directed to seek more suitable sites for the relocation of the City Yard such as the Mound View Industrial Park.
We further request that the additional Department of Public Works request to lease part of Out Lot A of Tyler Hills also be denied since the need will no longer exist.
