Carson City Planning Commission revokes Tahoe Western Asphalt permit following 'hundreds' of complaints
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Thu, 02/25/2021 - 4:57pm
The Carson City Planning Commission voted unanimously to revoke the Special Use Permit for Tahoe Western Asphalt Plant after finding there was evidence of failure to comply with conditions of the permit and that the business was creating a public nuisance that is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare, including emitting noxious odors into surrounding neighborhoods.
The Special Use Permit was approved 12 years ago and has been “fraught with problems” since then, according to planning commissioners.
In June 2020, Tahoe Western Asphalt (TWA) appealed a Feb. 26 decision by the planning commission to amend the conditions of the permit approval. However, the conditions that odors not cross the boundary line were held and the appeal to remove the odor restrictions was denied.
TWA was also under conditions from a Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) permit, regarding air quality.
In Aug. 2020, TWA provided an update on the NDEP Permit, the modification to the permit and how the company was mitigating odors.
TWA stated at that meeting that odor mitigation filters had been installed. When then-supervisor Lori Bagwell asked what testing they were using to make sure that air quality and odors were within allowed limits, TWA stated that they had not received any violations from NDEP, but that they themselves did not have any scientific data on being in compliance.
TWA stated that if maintenance was not done, there would an uptick in complaints, and they’d know there was an issue and it would be addressed.
“My objective is to not get the complaints and that you’d just do the maintenance,” said Bagwell at the time. “We want to solve this problem for the residents.”
“If the complaints are what they’re using to determine when the filters are being changed then that is not acceptable,” said Supervisor Stacey Giomi.
They were also in violation of the NDEP permit because they did not keep the required records as stipulated by the permit and on Aug. 14, NDEP issued a stop work order after citing TWA for several violations regarding air quality, according to documents.
On Wednesday, the Planning Commission stated that there had been hundreds of complaints and TWA’s request to have the complaints disregarded by the Commission was “disturbing.”
The Planning Commission found that Condition 12 and Condition 17 of the Special Use Permit were violated.
They voted unanimously to revoke the permit, but stated that in a few years if TWA came back and could comply with the conditions of a new permit, they could apply again.
