An industrial firm has told Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members that it plans to reduce the scope of its controversial proposal to create zoning regulations to allow the recycling of scrap tires.

Moses Velez, president of MAAK Environmental Corporation, told the P&Z at a December 4 pubic hearing that the firm was withdrawing its pending application on proposed scrap tire recycling regulations and would submit a revised application which is narrower in scope.

MAAK is seeking to create zoning regulations on scrap tire recycling so that it could then apply for a special zoning permit for such tire recycling at an industrial building at 40 High Bridge Road, near the Monroe town line.

The firm’s plan to eventually seek a special permit for tire recycling at that address drew heavy opposition from nearby residents who attended a November 6 P&Z public hearing on the topic.

Opposition focused on the potential for tire fires, which are difficult to extinguish, plus the potential for pollution caused by the tire recycling process. Residents also listed industrial noise and traffic as issues.

MAAK officials have countered those claims, saying that safety measures would be in place to prevent tire fires, fire protection procedures would be in place to extinguish any possible fires, and that the recycling process would not cause pollution.

Mr Velez told P&Z members on December 4 that the firm now plans to only eventually shred scrap tires and to bale that shredded scrap rubber at the 40 High Bridge Road site. The firm would not use processing machinery to extract various byproducts from the shredded rubber, as had earlier been proposed, according to Mr Velez.

The scrap tires that would enter the industrial building would be shredded, baled, and then shipped out of the factory on the same day that they arrived, according to Mr Velez. The operation would involve a maximum of 1,000 tires daily, he said.

The storage of tires at the site had been a controversial point among residents at the November 6 hearing.

Because the firm would submit a new application to create zoning regulations to allow tire recycling, a new public hearing would be held on that application, said George Benson, town director of planning.

The tire recycling topic is expected to be on the P&Z agenda for its January 15 meeting.

The 40 High Bridge Road site is in a M-1 (Industrial) zone. That six-acre site holds a 59,000-square-foot industrial building that was constructed in 1965. It formerly housed Make-A-Home Foundation, Inc, which has moved its operations to Waterbury.