“So, that is that,” Hamburg Planning Board chairman William Clark said Wednesday night after members unanimously rejected a proposed hot mix asphalt plant, an action met with relief and praise from residents and elected officials.
But that may not be the last word on the plant.
The company proposing the plant, AL Asphalt, plans to challenge the town’s action in state Supreme Court, according to its attorney, Ralph Lorigo.
“I have all the respect in the world for people who feel they don’t want it there,” Lorigo said, but added he believes the town buckled under public pressure. “I think they’ve gone too far.”
When the company first applied for a site plan approval in June 2019, the property was properly zoned for manufacturing, which allowed an asphalt plant.
The Town Board in January formally removed asphalt plants as a permitted use in manufacturing zones, and prohibited them anywhere in the town.
Lorigo said he believes excluding asphalt plants is improper.
The final vote of the board Wednesday ends a four-year environmental process on whether asphalt should be manufactured at the site of a former concrete plant on Camp Road on the Hamburg town-village border. It’s also an area town and village officials have identified as a gateway to the community.
Residents started opposing the plant in the summer of 2019.
“I just thought it was absolutely ridiculous to put essentially a chemical producing plant in the middle of a residential area,” said Jeanette Koncikowski, one of the leaders of the opposition. “I was not expecting this to be a four-year fight.”
“The great story here is the residents organized, engaged in respectful and kind debate in a public forum and were heard by the Planning Board members,” Hamburg Supervisor Randy Hoak said.
Koncikowski said residents will continue to keep an eye on what comes next.
“The most important thing from our perspective is that this really shows the power of…
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