Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of attorney Michael Wais’ name.

The fate of operations for a west side concrete crushing site with hundreds of blight tickets is back in the city’s hands.

A Wayne County Circuit Court judge sent a request to revoke Green Valley’s land use permit back to the city’s blight court to decide whether it was creating a public nuisance amid permit violations and claims fugitive dust from the site is impacting resident quality of life. 

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In her Tuesday appeal ruling, Judge Dana Hathaway sent the case back for the court to consider testimony and the newly acquired evidence of 50 adjacent property owners.

In 2022, the city’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department moved to revoke Green Valley’s land use permit to operate the 12.3-acre concrete crushing site at Fullerton and Greenfield Rd. in the Schoolcraft Southfield neighborhood, citing permit violations. BSEED’s request to halt operations at the plant, which accumulated nearly 300 blight tickets in two years, was overruled by Detroit’s Department of Administrative Hearings. Residents have complained about the site that they say cakes the neighborhood in dust and forces them to keep their windows closed. But the court determined that the crusher wasn’t posing a nuisance to surrounding property owners.

BSEED appealed the ruling, arguing its case during a virtual hearing May 2. 

A representative for Calo could not be immediately reached Friday.

During the May 2 hearing in circuit court, Michael Wais an attorney representing property owner Anthony Calo, told Hathaway “we’re not a danger to the community” and that the company has done everything it’s supposed to, except obtain a Certificate of Compliance, which is not grounds for a nuisance suit. 

“It is not a nuisance to not have a certificate of compliance,” said Wais, adding that if the city granted the certificate Green Valley would no longer be in violation. 

City attorney Jason Harrison told the judge that 45-foot-high piles of materials on the site can be seen from I-96 and visible from right of ways which constitutes a violation of the company’s land use grant and meets the requirements for public nuisance. 

“That is one of the things that the city of Detroit is very concerned about,” Harrison said.

Prior to the hearing, 50 residents living next to the site signed affidavits testifying that the operation was negatively impacting their lives. 

At a January community meeting attorney Harrison noted that he should have had residents sign affidavits before the case first went before a court, to present stronger evidence. 

Calling it “improper,” Hathaway declined during this month’s hearing to include the affidavits in the record. 

Liz Jacob, a staff attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Social and Economic Justice and the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, said “there is no doubt” that the concrete crusher is a nuisance to residents. 

“Green Valley may claim that their business is not a nuisance, yet local residents have spoken out publicly about fugitive dust from this facility, provided testimony to the city against this concrete crushing facility, and submitted numerous complaints to the City and EGLE. What’s more, the City of Detroit has issued over 270 blight tickets to Green Valley for their concrete crushing operation,” she said by email. 

Advocating for  residents over the last few months, Jacob said she’s heard from dozens about how the crusher impacts their ability to exercise and stay healthy in the neighborhood, barbecue outside and enjoy time with friends and family, and even wait for the bus. 

“For the residents who actually live near the facility, there is no doubt that this site is a nuisance. Remanding the case back to DAH is an important opportunity to hear from and center the needs of those residents and prioritize the wellbeing of city residents over the profits of corporate polluters,” Jacob said.