A Port Huron Township man is suing to stop a trucking hub from making its home in his neighborhood. Leonard Forton told The Times Herald that he can smell the fumes from the excavating equipment at the site of the future home of the trucking hub and fears it may be just a small sample of things to come.
Stafford Transport, the company set to make its home in the Port Huron Township, will house garbage haulers on the property.
Forton collected signatures on a petition from 150 of the township’s residents. “The petitions stated those who signed didn’t want truck or trailers that haul trash upwind or close to their houses. It also asked the township’s planning commission to deny a request for special land use to Stafford Transport,” The Times Herald reported.
“That air blows right across that property into our backyards, front yards,” Forton said.
Forton and the other neighborhood residents are concerned about the smell and traffic the hub would generate. Some have expressed concern over environmental issues, as well.
Forton has filed a complaint with the county and with the courts.
“The complaint states the township’s board of trustees have allowed a development to move forward that has ‘polluted and impaired’ other areas and likely would do the same locally. It states officials allowed the development to move forward without an impact analysis or another means to determine if the development would pollute the area,” The Times Herald reported.
“Kirk Lavigne, the township’s planning and building administrator, said the township could have been ‘liable’ if it hadn’t approved the development. He said the company’s principal permitted uses fit the zoning requirements for that area. Officials also approved a special use permit for a truck repair facility,” paper reported.
Lavigne went on to say that the township will do everything it can to prevent the company from becoming a nuisance to the community.
According to The Times Herald, “[Lavigne] said the township is doing as much as it can to prevent the trucking hub from becoming an ‘irritant’ to the community. Companies also need to follow the township’s zoning ordinance performance standards — which include things such as noise and vibration; dust, smoke, soot and dirt; odors; heat; sewage waste and water pollution; and radioactive materials.”
What do you think, drivers?