Planning and Zoning Commission Rejects Kobyluck Proposal

Matt Kobyluck, president of Kobyluck Brothers LLC, is having a bad seven months.

First, what he and his company were planning to do at 28 Industrial Drive, to install a stone processing facility. In response, Kobyluck , and the case is still pending.

Lucky for him, before the town banned that use. However, in May, the , with Kobyluck again

Monday night in Town Hall, it was deja-vu all over again. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted to unanimously deny a special permit for Kobyluck to build a stone processing facility at 28 Industrial Drive, with Kobyluck’s only option aside from accepting defeat is to appeal the decision in court again.

Kobyluck left the Town Hall auditorium quickly after the decision was made, before Patch could reach him for comment. The commission voted to deny the special permit after a memo by Planning Director Tom Wagner recommended doing just that.

The Reason For Denial

The fundamental reason the Planning and Zoning Commission rejected the application was because the use did not fit in the zone 28 Industrial Drive is in, according to Wagner’s memo. The zone 28 Industrial Drive sits in, the Industrial General Zoning District, allows for the “manufacture of asphalt, cement, cinder blocks or other building materials.”

Wagner, in his memo, argued that what Kobyluck is proposing is not manufacturing but processing. Processing is not allowed in the district, Wagner said.

“The use proposed is a processing facility where one form of material extracted from the earth, or recycled earth products are processed into smaller units,” Wagner wrote. “The regulation means a facility where material is used to manufacture a new product such as cement or asphalt. The applicant proposes to excavate rock, process it and export it to the adjacent property for use in the manufacture of concrete.”

Wagner wrote that on-site processing of earth materials is a temporary use, not a permanent one. Wagner also wrote that excavation for two years is allowed if the end result is “in harmony with the surrounding topography,” and what Kobyluck is proposing to do is build a 65-foot three-sided hole that is not in harmony with the surrounding topography.

Wagner said the site is a danger because it is close to power lines, and it would be hard for firefighters to put out a fire at the site. He added that the site is within 30 feet of a residentially zoned parcel, and all the efforts to curb noise pollution were shown only after the facility was complete, not during the five to seven years of construction of the plant.

Neighbors have long opposed the development, arguing it would lower property values and pointing out Kobyluck’s history in Salem and Montville, where he