Dear Neighbor, ASPHALT PLANT COMING TO SUGARLOAF… TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!

As you may know there is a company applying to Sugarloaf Township to construct an Asphalt Plant in our backyard. This is to be on Tomhicken Road about 1.5 miles from the I-81 Park & Ride. What does this mean to the nearby residents? From the first Zoning Board Hearing, here are some of the points which surfaced:

TRUCK TRAFFIC:
· Once at full capacity this will have some 15,000 heavy trucks per year bringing in raw materials and carrying out asphalt. · If the plant is active about 8 months of the year, this will mean an average of 1,875 trucks per month, or 469 trucks per week.
· This translates into some 94 trucks per day (in a 5-day week), about 12 trucks per hour, or ONE HEAVY TRUCK every 5 minutes on Tomhicken road!
· How safe will this make you and your children feel?· The smell of hot asphalt and the noise from these trucks will be constant.
· This will no doubt churn up the road, putting a huge burden on taxpayers (us) as the road will need to be constantly re-paved.
· [There are the occasional Tomhicken Water Company tanker trucks that travel on Tomhicken road each month. Compare that to 94 Asphalt trucks per day!]

HEALTH HAZARDS:
· According to preliminary research we have done, Asphalt Plants are Health Hazards to nearby residents. · There are many different hazardous chemicals emanating from the actual plant.· There are also toxins that come off the trucks which transport the hot asphalt.
· Our neighborhoods will be subject to an ongoing hot asphalt smell in the air, for about 8 months of the year, every year.
· This company made application to two other nearby townships (Butler and Hazle) and were turned down.

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