By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Supreme Court heard closing arguments Tuesday on a controversial trash transfer station proposed for 280 Pine St. in downtown Pawtucket.

Attorneys on both sides will now have to wait for a written decision to be rendered in a case that essentially pits the city’s industrial past with its rebirth as an up-and-coming, arts and entertainment district.
City officials, local developers and numerous abutters to the historic downtown area have been adamently opposed to the operation, which would process construction and demolition debris on an 8-acre vacant parcel of land.
Concerns about noise, increased tractor-trailer truck traffic and public safety factors have been raised, as well as the incongruity of having such a highly industrial operation located in an area that is currently being redeveloped for more residential living.
The proponents of the project, Pawtucket Transfer Operations LLC, have indicated that the bulk of the debris material would be trucked in from Massachusetts to a facility that would be constructed on Pine Street.
The material would be separated, and then loaded onto open railroad cars for transport to recycling customers as far away as the midwest.
The Providence & Worcester Railroad owns the property, and, under the proposal, PTO would lease the 8-acre site for the transfer station.
Reportedly, a lease agreement was signed on Aug. 31, 2004. On Oct. 10, 2007, the City of Pawtucket filed its appellant’s brief with the Rhode Island Supreme Court, challenging an earlier Superior Court ruling which overtunred a 2004 decision of the Pawtucket Zoning Board of Review.
The project has been winding its way through the courts since 2004, ever since a the city’s Zoning Board determined that a proposed construction and demolition debris transfer station did not conform to the Pawtucket zoning ordinance and would require a use varience.
According to published reports, in January 2005, Pawtucket Transfer Operations, LLC (PTO), an affiliate of the New Jersey-based Transload America, Inc., appealed the board’s decision to Superior Court. In June 2006, the Superior Court trial judge reversed the decision of the city’s Zoning Board of Review and ordered the city to issue a permit to PTO.
The City subsequently petitioned the Supreme Court for “writ of certiorari” from the Superior Court ruling, and the Supreme Court granted this petition. Simultaneously, the state attorney general submitted a rief supporting the city in its appeal.
The Pawtucket Foundation, representing private and non-profit business leaders in advocating for downtown improvements, strongly opposes the project and was recognized as an intervenor on the city’s behalf in the Superior Court case.
Local attorney Michael Horan represents the Foundation and several abutting property owners. Frank Milos, Pawtucket’s Assistant City Solicitor, and attorney Michael Horan, argued their key point that the certificate of zoning compliance was issued by a former building inspector who did not have the proper authority to do so.
 Milos also argued that PTO did not have a signed lease at the time that the city’s Planning Director, Michael Cassidy, had earlier rejected the proposed project for not conforming to the city’s zoning ordinance.
He maintained that PTO did not have a “property interest” in the matter and as such, was not entitled to an appeal. Horan also argued that the zoning certificate was improperly issued based on the city’s definition of “refuse” being different from construction and demolition debris, which had resale value. Under current city codes, only the city can operate a refuse station and such an operation must also be on city-owned property. Greg Benik, the attorney for PTO, maintained that the zoning certification is not an issue and said the testimony that is on record is “uncontradicted.”
He also said that PTO does, in fact, have a lease with the Providence & Worcester Railroad. Benik also argued that the transfer station’s “refuse” of construction and demolition debris should fall under the same city ordinance as any other type of trash.
He said the transfer station would be taking in wood, steel, particle board and other building materials, separating them and shipping them off to recyclers in the same way that the city handles its trash disposal and recycling program.
In response to a judge’s question about how materials such as PCBs, asbestos, or drums of hazardous liquids would be handled by the transfer station, Benik responded that the project would still need to undergo an extensive site review by the City of Pawtucket as well as need the required permit from the state Department of Environmental Management in order to operate.
Benik added that the site review process and the DEM regulations will address any public health and safety issues surrounding the transfer station’s operation.