The Gary Board of Zoning Appeals on Thursday approved a request to operate a wet soil processing facility on East 15th Avenue, despite sharp concerns from residents and officials about traffic, air quality, and environmental justice impacts.
Reconstruct Aggregate wants to build the facility on a 10-acre industrial parcel just south of the Indiana Toll Road, arguing the system would recycle water, eliminate dust, and cut disposal costs for contractors. But planning staff and neighborhood groups questioned whether the operation — and the steady flow of trucks it would bring — would worsen conditions for nearby communities already burdened by industrial activity.
The company, represented by attorney Scott E. Yang, plans to install the system on a portion of the industrial parcel currently used for truck parking. The site sits near a Republic Services waste transfer station, with no homes directly bordering the property.
The proposed operation would use a water-based process to wash and separate clean, inert soil from construction sites across Northwest Indiana and the Chicago region. Company representatives said the system would require trucks to undergo wheel washing before exiting. The project would use a closed-loop system that continuously recirculates water after cleaning it, minimizing the need for fresh water.
“The other nice feature about this process is that water is completely contained,” Yang told board members. “They aren’t going to be discharging water into the sanitary district, they will be reclaiming the water they use as a continuous cycle, and then they clean that water on site as well”
The zoning board voted 3-1 in favor of the proposal. If it is approved by the Gary Common Council, the project is expected to create 10 to 15 jobs while reducing disposal costs for contractors who currently haul soil to distant landfills. Construction would take about four months.
Despite those assurances, the project drew significant environmental and traffic concerns from residents and board members, leading city planning staff to recommend approval only with 11 strict conditions attached to the permit.
Neighborhood advocates and regional officials lined up in opposition, raising environmental, traffic, and regulatory concerns about the proposal. Representatives from Gary Advocates for Responsible Development warned that the steady stream of trucks operating from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week, would worsen already deteriorating conditions on 15th Avenue and Clay Street.
“I want to make sure that everyone knows that we are an environmental justice city. That means that we are historically inundated with predominantly industrial pollution, but now since we have so much trucking in our city … we don’t need to add anymore,” Gary resident Carolyn McCrady said.
Zoning board member Chester Jones had concerns about water usage and Lake Michigan. Jones questioned how the project might affect groundwater that eventually flows back into Lake Michigan. Even if most of the water is reused, he said, “you can’t reclaim it all.”
Although the company said its wet processing system would eliminate dust during operation, residents argued that dust could still be released when dry material is initially dumped before entering the wash cycle. GARD also pressed for transparency around potential tax incentives, hiring plans for the 10 to 15 jobs, and whether incoming trucks would be required to cover their loads.
Additional questions came from officials with the Indiana Toll Road, who sought clarity on whether the facility would rely on nearby toll plazas, how close operations would come to the roadway, and whether any water runoff or processed material could affect toll road ditches. The toll road’s coordinator, Matthew McLaughlin, also said the project would disturb more than an acre of land and must comply with municipal stormwater system regulations, including producing a stormwater pollution prevention plan and utilizing best management practices.
City planning staff recommended approval only if the company installs dust and noise controls, restricts truck traffic to designated industrial routes, and limits operating hours to 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The facility would also be required to maintain fencing or vegetation buffers to screen the operation from public view.
The proposal is expected to come before the Common Council before the end of the year.