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This is the latest in a series of delays by O&G, the largest private construction company in Connecticut. Residents who have been opposing the application for nearly a year had planned to meet next week to finalize its presentation to Planning & Zoning Commissioners. The group will reschedule its meeting for March.
O&G hopes to relocate its crushing operation at 1225 Seaview Avenue in the East End to 92/152 Howard Ave., a site zoned for light industry. East End residents have long complained that the current operations create noise and a fine silica dust that adds greatly to air pollution in the area.
A group has organized through Facebook, “NO to O&G,” to fight the application. Joseph Provey, a South End resident, has led the organization’s push back against O&G.
“Our reasons are two-fold, health and best land use,’’ Provey said. “We don’t believe it makes sense to add yet one more polluting facility to an area with the highest asthma rates in the city that has the second-highest rates in the state. In addition, this coastal site of 5.7 acres deserves a use that would better serve the community and produce more jobs and property taxes.”
Provey said the new facility would employ three people and only generate between 50 and 60k. “We cannot continue to give away our scarce land resources and get little in return,’’ he said. Provey also said that the group stands in solidarity with the East End’s desire to rid its community of the O&G eyesore and health hazard.
O&G has submitted the bulk of its application but pulled it earlier this week. O&G presented its original plans last August.
The “NO to O&G” formed last spring and has created an online petition to urge the Planning and Zoning Commission to reject the application. Click here to read the petition.
Win or lose, the group wants to have a voice in future zoning decisions, Prove said. “We will continue to oppose with whatever means at our disposal,’’ Provey said. “In addition, the group will continue to engage O&G and other polluters in the city in an effort to reduce pollution wherever possible.”
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