The developers of the highly controversial proposed recycling facility to be built on 30 Old Post Road have withdrawn their application from consideration by the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC), a major victory for the opponents of the project.

In a May 9 letter sent to Wetlands Enforcement Officer Eric Knapp and IWC Chairman David Radka, Douglas Dobriner, the Shoreline Rail and Recycling (SRR) representative listed on the application, informed the town of the withdrawal of the application.

Radka said he learned of the application’s withdrawal on May 14.

“I would say it is neither unprecedented nor unexpected,” Radka said of the decision.

At a May 1 IWC meeting, the commission voted to table its decision until June 5, but several members at that meeting indicated that they were leaning toward voting “No” on the application.

The proposed 94,500-square-foot facility would have been built on the site of a former Unilever warehouse on Route 145. According to George Andrews of Louriero Engineering Associates, a company that had represented SRR in front of the IWC, the proposed facility would have been for storing waste comprised of “construction and demolition debris.”

Andrews said that no proposed activities would occur in the wetlands. Neither Dobriner nor Andrews responded at press time to requests for a comment on the withdrawal.

Now that the application is withdrawn, Knapp said it is possible for the applicants to retry a new application before the IWC.

“They are free to reapply at their convenience,” Knapp said.

Radka said he was “not aware of any future plans” for the application at this time.

At the three previous public hearings on the proposal, residents had cited numerous issues with the proposal. Concerns ranged from negative affects on shell fishing, what some believed were inadequate plans to handle flooding, possible contamination to the wetlands, and fire risks.

The application had drawn the attention of two intervenors, Demco, LLC and Herb Clark, who retained attorney Campbell Hudson to fight the SRR application. The intervenors also presented their own experts to share their opinions of potential impacts to the wetlands and potential health problems to residents.

At all three public hearings, no member of the public not affiliated with the applicant spoke in favor of the application. Two of the public hearings were moved from Town Hall to the auditorium at The Morgan School to accommodate the large crowd that attended the meetings.

Had the IWC approved the wetlands application, SRR would then have had to present its case to the Planning & Zoning Commission and held further public hearings. If the IWC had denied the application at the June 5 meeting, the applicants could have appealed the decision.

For more information on the project including a recap of the three public hearings, visit www.zip06.com.