Concrete continues to flow from a mixing plant on the edge of town even after stop-work orders and numerous violations were issued to the business.
The town cited Co-Mix Concrete for maintaining a use not permitted in the town; changing the use and occupancy without an appropriate certificate; operating without an approved site plan; and performing construction without a building permit.
“These types of plants are prohibited in the Town of Ramapo,” said Ramapo Chief Building Inspector Tony Malliain in an email. “The Town code states that any use not specifically allowed is prohibited.”
But an attorney for Co-Mix Concrete, located just outside the Sloatsburg border, said the plant, which produces and delivers ready-mix concrete to contractors working on residential and commercial projects, is technically not a manufacturing facility.
“It’s not a cement manufacturing plant, which is what the building inspector says, because there’s no cement manufactured there,” said Donald Tracy, attorney for plant owner David Friedman.
The town attempted to shut the plant in May, said Mallia. He said work illegally resumed there soon after, and that he issued violations and a stop-work order on July 13, and then another stop-work order before the end of that month.
The issue has reached across the border into Sloatsburg.
Carl Wright, the mayor of Sloatsburg, said he was “greatly concerned about this illegal activity” that was “right in our backyard.”
Read the complete Journal News story here.