Marilla Street neighbors fight to block new scrapyard

American Iron & Metal, or AIM, is seeking to open what it claims will be a modern and much cleaner facility, promising nearby residents that it will look nothing like what they are used to and will operate very differently of any other case. He is now seeking approval from the Buffalo Planning Board so his project can move forward.

But Marilla residents — who were elated when the previous operator closed its doors — fear noise will be high again and will kick up dust or dangerous contaminants that will settle on their homes and lawns.

“When they closed the scrapyard, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I don’t want to go back to hell,” said Irene Isch.

Montreal-based AIM wants to demolish the few remaining structures on the 267 Marilla property and instead build an 11,200-square-foot recycling facility in the northeast corner of the 8-acre site. .

AIM says the proposed $8 million facility would not accept cars or other large or heavy metal objects and would not grind, cut or shred metal. Rather, it would operate as a transfer station, receiving scrap metal from individuals and recyclers, separating the metals, then shipping them by truck or train to shredding operations elsewhere.

Officials agree to cover most of the land with landscaping, rather than just dirt, and to protect the facility from the street and adjacent homes with a 25-foot-wide landscaped buffer along the street and the eastern boundary of the property, plus a 10-foot buffer zone. great wall of sound. And they insist their extensive studies showed there would be little impact on neighbors.

“AIM’s proposed operation has nothing to do with what has been done historically at the site, including what is in Buffalo today,” said David Dubronis, U.S. vice president of the AIM. ‘AIM.

Critics have cited headlines and newspaper reports in other cities with AIM installations that speak of loud noises resembling explosions or earthquakes, day or night.

However, Dubronis said these other facilities are shredding and crushing operations, not transfer stations.

Dubronis also promised that the company would install cameras at the site and pick up all trash, although he ridiculed concerns that peddlers would simply toss unwanted metal objects along the sidewalk or street.

“Scrap metal has value,” he said. “Why would you want to throw discarded materials on the street so we can pick them up the next day, without getting any value from them?” »

But the neighbors are far from satisfied.

“We will take action against the city, the state and anyone who allows this travesty to happen,” said resident Thomas Fisher, who said he led a neighborhood petition drive and met with Common Council President Christopher Scanlon. He said neighbors would hire air traffic controllers if necessary.

“The city and the authorities represented have sold us as a neighborhood,” he said. “