Planning commission continues LaJoy Auto Wrecking site redevelopment after community concerns
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Summary
LaJoy Auto Wrecking presented plans for a new 36,000 sq ft recycling and processing building at 40 Meadow Street; commissioners left the public hearing open and continued it to the August 6 meeting after neighbors raised questions about screening, stormwater treatment, soil testing and community impacts.
LaJoy Auto Wrecking presented site and building plans to redevelop 40 Meadow Street into a modernized recycling and processing facility, but the Planning & Zoning Commission left the public hearing open and continued the matter to Aug. 6 after residents raised environmental and neighborhood concerns.
Attorney Liz Saatchi introduced the proposal for a new two-story, 36,000-square-foot building with the first-floor finished at elevation 13.1 feet to meet FEMA and local minimums. Civil engineer Andy Sumalidis described drainage changes designed to treat runoff (hydrodynamic separators and infiltration areas) and to reduce impervious cover by adding nearly 10,000 square feet of landscaped or pervious surface. Architect Bill Andriopoulos showed elevations and materials intended to screen operations from Meadow Street, including new sidewalk trees, fencing and a short entry plaza.
LaJoy family member Jim Murphy, who runs the operation, told commissioners the business has recycled metals in Norwalk for more than a century and will move more processing inside the new building. Murphy said the site does not accept plastics and that copper-stripping equipment and other processes include dust control; he also described quarterly testing and cleanouts of the planned oil/water separators.
But neighbors used the public-comment period to ask detailed questions about possible soil contamination from historical outdoor operations, the adequacy of proposed screening and whether stormwater and runoff could reach Village Creek and downstream shellfish areas. Several speakers — including representatives of the Norwalk River Watershed Association and nearby residents — urged checking for legacy contamination and strengthening vegetative screening along the northern property line. One resident asked that notices and outreach include Spanish-language mailings for tenants in the surrounding neighborhood.
Staff noted the application had updated plans and that Transportation, Mobility & Parking (TMP) and other agencies were still reviewing specific comments. Because staff and reviewing agencies needed time to evaluate revised materials and to respond to neighborhood questions about drainage, soil testing and screening, the commission voted to continue the public hearing to Aug. 6 to allow the applicant to supply required materials and to give residents another opportunity to review changes.
Why it matters: The redevelopment would keep a long-standing recycling business in Norwalk and modernize operations, but neighbors and civic groups raised environmental-justice and water-quality questions that the commission wants resolved before final action.
