A Macomb County utility contractor is seeking approval to locate its first concrete crusher at an industrial park in Detroit near a residential neighborhood.
DVM Utilities, Inc. began operating Sir-Crush-A-Lot off I-96 and Evergreen in northwest Detroit in fall 2025 with a state permit but without required city permits. It halted operations earlier this year after a complaint was made to the city and DVM became aware it needed a city permit.
During a special land use hearing on Wednesday, Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) considered DVM’s application to “establish a very high-impact manufacturing or processing facility” on a 3.67-acre site zoned for heavy industry. One neighboring business spoke in support, and BSEED received 190 letters in opposition, staff noted at the hearing, with concerns mostly focused on air quality impacts. The crusher would be located in the Jeffries Schoolcraft Industrial Park, within a quarter mile from residents and two miles from an existing concrete crusher.
Kevin McDonald, director of operations for Sterling Heights-based DVM Utilities, said he thought the company was fully permitted after receiving authorization from the state, and didn’t know it needed a city permit to operate. DVM was founded in 1981 and provides above-and below-ground utility infrastructure services.
“We want to be in full compliance, we’re not trying to do anything backhanded,” he said at the virtual hearing.
Related:
- Detroit could block billionaire-owned concrete plant from further neighborhood expansion
- How Detroit ceded a historically Black neighborhood to a billionaire-owned concrete facility
- Under settlement, company can’t open new concrete crushers in Detroit
- Detroit and Salem residents struggle to ‘coexist’ with concrete crushers. Is Wayne prepared?
Following recommendations from city departments that testified at the hearing, BSEED Director Dave Bell will make a decision. If the permit is denied, DVM can appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
The concrete crusher is not the first in Detroit to begin operations without proper city permitting. In recent years, truck traffic and dust from another concrete site nearby, Dino-Mite, upset neighbors and prompted legal action. And, in Cadillac Heights, near the original Buddy’s Pizza, another company began mixing concrete in 2022 without city permits.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) issued DVM the permit to crush concrete in April 2025. That fall, Sir-Crush-A-Lot crushed 1,115 tons of concrete and used 2,300 gallons of water, according to company records submitted to the state. DVM first applied for a permit with the city in April 2026, following an inspection driven by a complaint, according to BSEED spokesperson Georgette Johnson.
Piles of material were found during the April inspection, but the company was not in operation, said Johnson and several tickets were issued to DVM for not having the required documentation.
“They were found responsible by default, and they paid all the tickets,” she said by email.
EGLE spokesperson Josef Stephens said by email on Friday that the department tries “to remind people that they may need other permissions; however, it is the company’s responsibility to ensure they have all necessary permits, licenses, etc., prior to starting operation.”
The site has received material from the old Wayne County Jail, among others, according to DVM representatives.
Detroit City Planner Dolores Perales-Lara asked during the Wednesday hearing about the need for another concrete crusher, given Dino-Mite is located nearby.
Engineering and environmental and health partners for DVM noted during the hearing that concrete crushing is “an integral part to all construction in the city of Detroit” and said that it’s good news for everyone that Detroit is undergoing so much development.
Major construction has reshaped the city in the years since Detroit’s bankruptcy, with the first new skyscraper in 50 years, new hotels, sports complexes and new sidewalks, which all require concrete.
A DVM representative noted during the hearing that concrete crushing is “an integral part to all construction in the city of Detroit.”
Crushing concrete allows material to be recycled and reused for new projects, and it diverts the material from the landfill. However, when crushed, the concrete can release dust particles that can be harmful to human health.
Four years ago, residents fought a similar fight: an asphalt company wanted to build a plant just on the other side of the highway from the Sir-Crush-A-Lot site.
Matthew Milia lives in nearby Rosedale Park, suffers from asthma, and has a 3-year-old. He told DVM during the hearing that he took issue with the company using Detroit’s renewal to demonstrate the need.
“That rationale does nothing to justify the location for this deleterious public health hazard,” he said. Neighbors have been working hard to revitalize the area, he said.
A quarter-mile away is nonprofit community farm Foster Patch. Stoepel Park, which features recreational sports fields, a playground, and other amenities, is within a mile. And soon, Faust Haus will build a new coffee roastery in the area.
“This is just way too close to major residential centers, public parks, and our own backyards, where our children are growing up to make any sort of sense for the community,” said Milia.
The state environmental permit was issued after EGLE employee Matt Heintz inspected the site in April 2025 and found that it met requirements to crush concrete. It’s at least 500 feet from residents and commercial buildings, located in an area zoned for industry right by the highway, and DVM had plans to use water to mitigate dust, Heintz noted.
Originally, the company proposed its crusher operation for a site in the city of Inkster, but it would be “too close to residential,” Heintz wrote in the same report.
Mark Javor, managing director of Metro Welding Supply, a business adjacent to the Sir-Crush-A-Lot site, spoke on Wednesday in support of the company.
“They’ve been really easy to work with, very quick to react since they moved in,” he said.
Javor also has a property adjacent to Dino-Mite, which is about two miles from Sir-Crush-A-Lot. Dino-Mite has been in an ongoing fight with residents for spreading dust into the neighborhood and has received hundreds of city tickets for dust. BSEED sought to shut it down, sparking a multi-year legal battle which ended with a settlement requiring the company to step up efforts to reduce dust.
Although the two concrete operations are unrelated, many opponents at the Wednesday hearing brought up Dino-Mite, sharing concerns that Sir-Crush-A-Lot could have a similar impact.
McDonald on Wednesday said the comparison was unfair.
“The equipment that we’re using is more modern, probably than, again, the other place, the other concrete crushing place that continues to be discussed and for us to be compared to, which is unfair,” he said.
McDonald estimated several thousand tons of concrete would be crushed per year at the Detroit site. However, the state permit authorizes Sir-Crush-A-Lot to process up to 2 million tons of concrete a year. Dino-Mite is permitted to crush 600,000 tons.
DVM said Wednesday that its BSEED permit application is crafted to meet city requirements, including installing two air monitors to ensure compliance with air quality standards. Upon hearing resident concerns during Wednesday’s hearing, company officials said they would engage with the community and install as many air monitors as residents wanted, provide a tipline for residents to report drivers on unauthorized roads, or other measures.
“We’re going to do everything we need to do, and more as needed to be a good neighbor,” McDonald said.
State Sen. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, who represents the neighborhood, said she was disappointed that BSEED is considering the permit application.
“I’m in complete opposition, and I really think that we can’t keep risking the health of our community members and ask to please deny this application as I work at the state level to make sure that we don’t increase environmental outputs to our beautiful populations,” she said.
Lead staff attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Liz Jacob, said it would be unjust to add pollution to the neighborhood, given the area’s “burden” already.
The neighborhood, she said, is exposed to more air pollution than 90% of the entire state of Michigan, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
“We cannot keep sacrificing the health of our Detroiters,” she said.
