[StBernard] Cleanup celebrity defends planned St. Bernard transfer station

[Westley Annis]

Cleanup celebrity defends planned St. Bernard transfer station
by Paul Rioux, The Times-Picayune 
Saturday September 20, 2008, 8:48 PM

To hear Sidney Torres IV tell it, the trash transfer station that the
developer-turned-celebrity-garbageman wants to build in Chalmette will have
nearly as many amenities as one of his boutique French Quarter hotels. 

The $2 million steel-and-concrete building with roll-up doors will be
shrouded by lush landscaping, including palm trees and other subtropical
plantings. 

When the wind picks up, rooftop mist machines will spray the same patented
lemon-scented deodorizer that his company, SDT Waste & Debris, uses to
freshen up the French Quarter each morning. 

And the rancid runoff from transferring trash onto bigger trucks will be
drained to a tank and trucked to a permitted disposal site. 

"This will not be a dump, and it's not going to look like a dump," Torres
said. "In fact, you're not even going to know it's there." 

But several neighboring business owners say they are concerned the transfer
station will be an eyesore on Paris Road, one of the primary entrances to
St. Bernard Parish. 

"Is this what we want people to see and smell at the gateway to our
community?" said Al Waller, co-owner of Fradella's Collision Center. "We've
spent a lot of time and effort to clean up Paris Road. This would be a step
back." 

Waller was one of a half-dozen people who spoke against an ordinance
introduced at last week's St. Bernard Parish Council meeting to rezone a
5-acre parcel next to the Sheriff's Office substation on the east side of
Paris Road from A-1 rural to I-2 heavy industrial to allow the transfer
station to be built. 

Torres was surprised by the opposition but said he is confident it will
subside as the public learns more about the project. 

He said the proposed building would replace an outdoor transfer station SDT
operates six blocks away at the former parish landfill. 

A flock of seagulls circled overhead on a recent morning there as a backhoe
loaded piles of garbage onto a truck in clear view of passing motorists. 

"The new transfer station will be completely enclosed and hidden by palm
trees," Torres said. "It will be a huge improvement over what's already
there." 

He said truck traffic would not increase because the existing transfer
station already handles all of the garbage SDT collects. 

A public hearing on the rezoning request is set for Tuesday at 4 p.m. before
the St. Bernard Parish Planning and Zoning Commission. 

Michael Hubbell, an SDT attorney, said the proposed station is consistent
with other businesses along the Paris Road corridor, including a scrap yard,
a muffler shop and a second waste transfer site operated by Unified Recovery
Group, a contractor demolishing Hurricane Katrina-damaged homes. 

The western side of Paris Road, where the two trash stations are, is zoned
heavy industrial while the eastern side is zoned rural. 

Details about the proposed station, including the fact that it would replace
the existing station, were not released at Tuesday's council meeting. In a
phone interview Thursday, Waller said the new information provided by Torres
could change his opinion of the project. 

"Maybe it has some merit. I'm a fair and reasonable guy, and I'm willing to
look at his proposal," said Waller, adding that he admires SDT's success. 

Torres, who got into the garbage business after Hurricane Katrina, drew
national media attention and near-unanimous local praise for bringing
"Disneylike" cleanliness to the French Quarter and the New Orleans Central
Business District. 

SDT Waste also has trash contracts with the Superdome, City Park, St.
Bernard Parish and several public school districts. 

A Chalmette native, Torres said SDT Waste has worked to spruce up Paris Road
by donating a welcome sign and planting 40 bald cypress trees on the median.
He also said his crews sweep the shoulders three times a week for free. 

"If you look at my work as a developer, you can see I don't do things
halfway," said Torres, who operates Hotel Royal and Melrose Mansion in the
French Quarter. "Everything is top-notch. It doesn't matter if it's a hotel
or a waste transfer station." 

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux at timespicayune.com or 504.826.3321.