Airport holds up concrete project

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:04 AM CDT | () comments

Plans for a concrete recycling plant in Moline, near the Quad-City International Airport, seemingly hit a stumbling block Tuesday when the airport authority voiced opposition to the project.

Miller Trucking & Excavating, of Silvis, Ill., wants to build a concrete crushing and recycling operation near the intersection of U.S. 150 and U.S. 6 — east of the airport’s property and west of Coal Valley.

The plant, to be built on property owned by its sister company, Miller Leasing LLC, would be used to recycle old concrete into a product that could be used as road base, in driveways, as bedding for sewer work and as backfill.

Jarrod and Justin Miller, co-owners of third-generation family business, are set to go before the Moline Planning and Zoning Commission today on a request to rezone the property from light industrial to heavy industrial.

But the project, which the Millers said is more than three years in the making, hit the snag during the airport authority’s regular meeting.

Harvey Levin, the airport’s attorney, has been negotiating an avigation easement with the Millers to address potential problems with the plant, including easement and dust issues.

Levin told airport commissioners that dust is the biggest concern because if the operation created conditions that obstructed aircraft from flying in the area the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, could order the airport closed.

Under the negotiated agreement, the airport would have an avigation easement that would give it the right to order Miller Trucking to shut down the recycling plant if dust got out of control and keep it shut until the problem was corrected either naturally or with assistance.

The easement also protects the airport from noise complaints from potential tenants of a retail development that the Millers are hoping to attract to adjacent property at the corner of U.S. 150 and U.S. 6.

However, Miller Trucking lost what it thought was the guaranteed support of the airport authority after commissioners approved a motion instructing Levin to tell the City of Moline the board does not support the project. The airport attorney also must ask the city if it would include the avigation agreement as part of its conditions with Miller Trucking.

But according to the motion, if the city is not willing to comply, the board does not want to oppose the project.

City officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The decision came after a brief presentation by one dissenter, a Coal Valley businessman, who argued that the recycling plant will create dust, pollution, noise and an unsightly appearance. “I don’t think we want this kind of project in the gateway of the Quad-Cities,” Greg Mosely of Sun-Rys, a mobile home parts distributor, told the airport authority.

But Justin Miller, who with his brother now owns the 59-year-old family business, said they have conducted all the studies requested of them, addressing concerns of the neighbors as well as the airport, the city, the county, Coal Valley, the school district and regulatory agencies.

The Millers said they are uncertain what impact the airport’s action will have on the zoning request. But a concrete recycling operation on the 27-acre property has been their plan since buying the site from the city and another party in 2003. They said they have been cleaning up the land — which had attracted illegal dumping and was overgrown with weeds and trees — to prepare it for development.

This is not the first time, the Millers said, that they have been blindsided by opposition. In early 2005, when they thought the project was a go, they were met with strong opposition at a planning and zoning meeting. Justin Miller said the opposition led them to conduct numerous studies — including on traffic, sound and air quality — on the site.

“We’re trying to appease everybody who’s got issues and we’re still hitting a wall,” he said, adding that the project has received the necessary approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Natural Resources and the FAA, which had to approve a height plan.

Jarrod Miller said not only has the project increased in costs because of the additional studies, “but we’ve missed another year for the construction season. We just didn’t expect this kind of an uproar.”

Meanwhile, Miller Excavating operates a recycling plant in Carbon Cliff, near its Silvis headquarters. The idea behind the Moline site was to be more centrally located. Located in a floodplain, the property is ideal for their plant because much of the equipment is mobile, Justin Miller added.

“There’s not a better use for the property. We’re taking dirt that right now is not doing anything and hopefully putting three union operator jobs there … as well as creating more tax revenue.”

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.