When the proposal was announced, residents raised concerns over smell, traffic and noise from the plant and requested more time to research it, the report says. Hitachi Zosen Inova, with U.S. headquarters in Norcross, Georgia, proposed to remodel a 13,128-square-foot warehouse and build a 36,000 square-foot addition for the processing plant.
The plant would process food and green waste from Waste Connection’s service area from Cambria to Nipomo and not including Atascadero or Paso Robles, and use the methane to produce energy, the report says. The facility is needed to meet state legislation mandates requiring local jurisdictions to install programs in order to achieve California’s state recycling and greenhouse gas emissions goals.
Residents and business owners surrounded the area of the proposed plant told The Tribune that an environmental impact report needs to be prepared for the project. A report much be prepared when substantial evidence of environmental effects may occur, the report says. A previous staff report claims there’s no evidence that such effects would occur after the proposed measures are taken.
The project will not include composting operations and the process will take place in an enclosed facility, the report says. The facility would be kept at a negative pressure to pull in outside air when the doors open, which will prevent odors from escaping. The report says, according to an air quality analyst for the proposed project, that odors could occur when doors open to allow trucks into the facility, but the doors are open for 12 seconds at a time.
The proposed project’s location is around 1,500 feet south from homes, the report says. The site was previously an industrial site during the early 1980s and Waste Connections took it over in 2012.
