NOISY NEIGHBORS: Southfork Residents At Odds With USA Metal

Holli Sublette is the president of the Southfork III Property Owners Association in Lowell. An earthen berm, seen behind Sublette on Feb. 29 is being built to try and suppress sounds coming from USA Metal Recycling during operating hours. (Inset) A loader at the USA Metal Recycling facility gets ready to deposit a truck onto the conveyor into the shredder Feb. 29 in Lowell.

Holli Sublette is the president of the Southfork III Property Owners Association in Lowell. An earthen berm, seen behind Sublette on Feb. 29 is being built to try and suppress sounds coming from USA Metal Recycling during operating hours. (Inset) A loader at the USA Metal Recycling facility gets ready to deposit a truck onto the conveyor into the shredder Feb. 29 in Lowell.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

— USA Metal workers processing a Chevrolet Suburban early in the morning of Jan. 4 told a state investigator they failed to find a propane tank in the car before putting it through the shredder.

Boom!

The 8:10 a.m. explosion shook homes, rattled windows, knocked wall hangings askew and sent residents lighting up the phone lines and email accounts at City Hall. The explosion and associated fire put the exclamation point on Southfork homeowners’ complaints about noise, particles in the air and odor they had been voicing to city officials and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality since July.

TIMELINE

Neighborhood Complaints

Below are complaints from Lowell residents since July to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality regarding the USA Metal Recycling site near the Southfork neighborhood. None of the complaints resulted in violations or fines, although the department forwarded the Jan. 4 complaint to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for investigation.

  • July 11: Smoke and odor

  • Oct. 19: Odor, dust, black smoke, explosions

  • Nov. 2: Odor, noise, explosions and smoke; chemicals leaking into the ground water

  • Jan. 4: Explosion and odors

  • Jan. 13: Six explosions since Dec. 21, and the smell of burning rubber

  • Jan. 24: White-like dust coming from metal shredder

  • Feb. 9: Explosion with fallout

  • Feb. 13: Concerns about air quality and a burning smell

  • Feb. 22: Black smoke and odor

Source: Arkansas Department Of Environmental Quality

USA Metal Recycling, a metal crushing and shredding business, is adjacent to the neighborhood.

Tom Smith, who speaks on behalf of the business his wife owns, reported the explosion to responding police as “sabotage.” Police Chief Joe Landers said the investigation showed no evidence of sabotage.

The explosion got state officials’ attention. They asked the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to investigate.

Residents place much of the blame on city officials, who they say shouldn’t have allowed the facility on Lincoln Street in the first place and who now are doing nothing to address complaints.

Mayor Eldon Long, a member of the Planning Commission when the facility was approved three years ago, said he knew there would be an impact on the neighborhood, so he was surprised no residents showed up to object when the Smiths sought a conditional use permit to open what was then called Lowell Iron and Metal. The city previously set the land aside to be used as a park.

The Smiths needed a permit from the city because the land was originally on the city’s land schedule to become a park. The Smiths bought the land from the city to build the metal plant.

“I was the first one to ask why nobody from the neighborhood showed up at the meeting,” Long said. “We knew there would be noise. Did we know how much noise? No.”

Conditions Outlined

No shredder was outlined on the original large-scale development plan, according to Long, but the paperwork showed a spot for an “optimizer.” The optimizer later became the shredder, Long said.

On April 14, 2011, USA Metal Recycling began using the metal shredder at the Lowell site. Complaints began coming into the city at that time, according to documents.

Since the shredder began operating, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has received and investigated 14 complaints and found only one violation. The division found no air quality violations, said Katherine Benenati, the department’s public outreach and assistant division manager.

However, USA Metal Recycling was cited by the department Nov. 28 for violations and deficiencies of its stormwater pollution prevention plan. The company cleared up the issues by the end of the year, according to documents.

Benenati said the department sent a letter to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a Jan. 4 complaint about the explosion at the site.

“We confirmed there was an on-site explosion and notified OSHA that we feel an investigation is warranted,” Benenati said.

Juan Rodriguez, an administration spokesman, said the investigation was prompted by a complaint from a Southfork resident to the state.

“The investigation is ongoing at this time,” Rodriguez said. “It’s our policy not to comment on an open investigation until it’s completed.”

Smith has also been informed the site must undergo tests to see if the company needs to apply for an air permit from the state agency, Benenati said.

USA Metal Recycling also received a citation Jan. 28 from Lowell asserting the business was operating outside its restricted hours. A hearing on the citation was Monday, but neither Smith nor his attorney attended. The court procedure was continued until April.

Tom Smith declined comment for this report when reached this month. He has said in public meetings he is following the city’s rules. He said he has even gone beyond what the city requires in trying to reduce noise. The company has recently added height to a dirt berm to deaden noise between the site and Southfork.

FAST FACTS

Report, Recommendations

Below are the report and recommendations from the Community-USA Metal Committee to the Planning Commission:

  • Explosions are still a concern. The committee advises the city to continue to investigate and to follow code enforcement procedures when explosions or loud bangs occur.

  • Actions are being taken by USA Metal Recycling to decrease noise.

  • The company continues to work to satisfy complaints and has purchased a decibel meter in an effort to address noise complaints.

  • The company is beginning installation of a zero-bleed system that will potentially decrease or eliminate airborne debris from the metal shredder.

Source: City Of Lowell

Smith said he also has ordered and is installing an additional sound shield around the shredder. Company officials have said most complaints of “explosions” are caused by metal accidentally dropped from a crane.

Representatives of the Southfork Property Owners Association have said at Planning Commission meetings the buffering isn’t enough and the noise, regardless of cause, is too frequent and at unacceptable levels.

USA Metal Recycling received a letter dated Feb. 14 from the Planning Commission citing conditions under which the company can continue to operate at its current site. Conditions include daytime hours of operations only, minimal external lights at night and no loud noises — among other requirements.

The company buys old vehicles and scrap metal, then sends the material through a shredder. The shredded metal is baled much like hay and shipped on railcars to buyers.

The company’s 2009 conditional use permit didn’t offer specific guidelines for the company to follow, other than hours of operation from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, according to records. The permit didn’t say the company could be shut down for violating the permit’s conditions.

The Feb. 14 commission letter added more conditions. It directs the company to produce “no loud bangs and booms,” and the letter clarifies that violation of the conditions will be cause for the company’s permit to be revoked and for the business to be shut down.

Smith responded in a letter dated Feb. 24 that contends the 2009 conditional use permit was “granted without conditions” based on the city’s meeting minutes and records.

Up In Arms, Down In Value

Southfork residents, led by Holli Sublette, association president, claim the facility produces too much noise, odor and dust. Property Owners Association members also contend the operation at the metal plant have lowered property value.

At least one property value expert in Northwest Arkansas agrees, and he’s a Southfork property owner himself. Brad Bruns, a senior vice president and executive broker with Lindsey & Associates, said he bought a house in Southfork as rental property five years ago. The house was valued at $135,000, he said. Bruns is also a Springdale councilman.

“Now it appraises for $80,000,” Bruns said. “What part of that is USA Metal and what part is the market, I can’t say. But the controversy will hurt property values as much as the issues. A lot of people in there can’t sell their houses there because they’re way under value.”

The metal crushing facility borders the backyards of some residences in Southfork.

The only barrier between the homes and the facility is a dirt berm placed there by USA Metal Recycling to suppress noise. Smith has said the barrier is undergoing improvement. Southfork residents said that’s not enough.

The city received 47 complaints about USA Metal Recycling from Lowell residents in November, according to city records.

“Odor/putrid burning rubber,” stated Lindsey March on Nov. 2. “Explosions/seen and witnessed loud sonic booms which shake walls of home, walked outside. Seen a large billowing plume of smoke with mushroom cap. Noise/loud and constant rumbling.”

Also on Nov. 2, Mindy Jones reported, “Noise/constant rumbling. Odor/smell of burned rubber, concerned about air quality. Noise, vibration/loud bang cause house to literally shake. Concerned of affect this may have on structural integrity of home.”

A reporter driving to look at the facility in January noticed black smoke coming from the shredder compartment at USA Metal Recycling. The conveyer belt, which feeds metal into the shredder, was shut down and the black smoke turned to white within minutes.

Downwind from the facility, the air carried the acrid smell of burning rubber and metal.

Other Business Interests

Smith, who formerly owned Roll Off Service, a local trash disposal company, is listed on an Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality form as director of real estate for USA Metal Recycling. The form lists his wife, Kendra Smith, as the owner. Earlier documents filed with the department list Tom Smith as owner.

WEB WATCH

Correspondence, Full Complaint Reports

Visit nwaonline.com/usametal to see correspondence between the Lowell Planning Commission and Tom Smith and a timeline of complaints with links to full reports.

The Smiths operate other USA Metal Recycling sites in Arkansas, including in Springdale, Fayetteville, Van Buren and Siloam Springs. Those facilities don’t include metal shredding, but instead prepare metal to be shredded in Lowell.

The Smiths have been active in the local business community for more than a decade. Tom Smith launched Roll Off Service in 2001, then sold it to Deffenbaugh Industries, headquartered in Kansas City, on Jan. 4, 2011, according to reports. Deffenbaugh retained Smith as president, according to Deffenbaugh news releases.

Tom Smith also has been involved with businesses in Kansas that are no longer in operation, according to documents at the Kansas secretary of state’s office. One such business is Smith Trucking Inc., which, in a listing with the Kansas secretary of state, named with Tom Smith as resident agent and its status as dissolved.

Smith Trucking Inc. of Kansas, with Kendra Smith named as the incorporator/organizer and registered agent, address at 1457-A E. Robinson Ave. in Springdale, is listed with the Arkansas secretary of state’s office with its status listed as revoked.

“Being listed as revoked means the business hasn’t complied with franchise taxes,” said Anita Chance, production manager at the Arkansas secretary of state’s office. “The business would owe some type of fees or forms.”

K. Smith Inc., doing business as All Points Logistics, lists Darrell Prater as company president and an address of 1457-A E. Robinson Ave. That company is listed as being in good standing.

Chance said All Points Logistics, which filed with the secretary of state’s office March 24, 2004, lists Kendra Smith as incorporator/organizer. The company has until May to pay this year’s franchise taxes, Chance said.

Kendra Smith has other revoked businesses in the state, Chance said.

“Each business entity stands on its own,” Chance said. “But if Kendra Smith came in tomorrow and wanted to start a new business, she couldn’t until she got her revoked businesses cleared up.”

Two of Smith’s former businesses in Kansas are listed with the secretary of state there as “forfeited.” Robynn Tolbert, a file clerk with the secretary of state, said that term means the business is no longer in good standing. She said business owners wanting to reinstate forfeited companies have to pay the fees and penalties, plus any outstanding taxes.

Tolbert said the practice of forfeiting a business is fairly common.

“Sometimes, people don’t realize it takes money to close a business and they just walk away,” Tolbert said.

Smith also owned Salina Iron and Metal Co. in Salina, Kan., which was “merged out of existence,” according to records.

Watching, Waiting

Fayetteville recently passed an ordinance prohibiting metal shredding.

The Siloam Springs Planning Commission last week recommended against granting a conditional use permit for a USA Metal Recycling facility in that city. David Williams, director of community development in Siloam Springs, said USA Metal Recycling had taken over another small business in September 2009.

AT A GLANCE

A committee of four Southfork residents, four Lowell planning commissioners and four USA Metal Recycling representatives has been set up to resolve the dispute between the neighborhood and company. The Community-USA Metal Committee is set to present its findings to the planning commission April 19.

Source: Staff Report

“The other business did some light recycling along with selling farm implements,” Williams said. “Siloam Springs Iron and Metal, which is what USA Metal Recycling was called at the time, took over, and we began to get a lot of complaints, mainly about noise.”

Williams said USA Metal and Recycling officials recently wanted to pour concrete at its Siloam Springs site and that brought the company’s officials before the commission for a conditional use permit.

USA Metal Recycling representatives have also made overtures about starting a facility in Harrison. Harrison officials have said, after talking to Lowell city leaders, they don’t want a crusher or shredder at Smith’s business in Harrison.

Jeremy Johnson, building inspector for Harrison, said Tom Smith, who identified himself to Harrison officials as the company’s real estate director, recently received a permit for metal sales there.

Johnson said Harrison officials spoke with their counterparts in Lowell about USA Metal Recycling. The company’s site in Harrison is zoned for commercial use, Johnson said, but city officials said Smith has told them the company won’t crush vehicles or operate a shredder in Harrison.

“I went through all the plans, and he went before the planning commission twice,” Johnson said. “He said no crushing. He said he was just going to get the cars ready to take to Lowell. We were wondering how he was going to get them on trucks to get them to Lowell without crushing them.”

Larry Henry contributed to this story.