By Josh Weinhold, Truth Staff
jweinhold@etruth.com
ELKHART -- Once North America's largest car scrapper and Elkhart's biggest neighborhood nuisance, the infamous Mega Shredder is now leaving the city -- giant piece by giant piece.
The 500-foot-long automobile junking machine is being disassembled and moved by its new owner, Steel Dynamics Inc.
And city officials said they couldn't be happier.
"I don't know if there's any superlative other than 'elated,'" said Arvis Dawson, Mayor Dick Moore's executive assistant.
Since it started operation in 2006, the equipment, officially called a Wendt 1314 Heavy Shredder System, created noise, odor and dust that infuriated many residents living near the 1514 W. Lusher Ave. facility.
The shredder's former owners, Sturgis Iron & Metal, created headaches for the city, too, as the company was cited at least 14 times for violating noise and zoning regulations.
Now, Dawson said, the administration is happy the neighborhood is calm again.
"You hate to see tax revenue and jobs lost like that," he said. "But at the same time, when the quality of life of those people in that neighborhood is disrupted, that outweighs what we had there."
Sturgis closed the shredder facility in April 2008 after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. SDI bought the company's assets from bankruptcy court in June 2008 for $41 million and purchased the shredder at auction later that year.
Two cranes and a 12-worker crew are spending nearly a month dismantling the shredder. An SDI executive told The Elkhart Truth last month they plan to use the shredder eventually, but only at a site outside the state. The pieces will be stored temporarily at an SDI property at 58282 S.R. 19.
SDI did not acquire the shredder's former Lusher Avenue home as part of its purchase, and the future of that property remains uncertain.
Dawson said the city hopes to see some sort of operation eventually occupy that site -- but not for a while.
"Anytime we can get a site reused for something that fits in that area that's going to generate jobs, we welcome that," he said. "But it will definitely be a lot more scrutinized than the Mega Shredder."
Adding to its dubious history and reputation with residents and two mayoral administrations, the Lusher site is on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund priority cleanup list, because of industrial pollutants found in the groundwater.
Tim Cataldo, the city's recently hired brownfield coordinator, said the site isn't one of the sites he or his predecessor were focused on.
A number of locations are candidates for grant-funded cleanup in 2010, he said, but no decisions have been made.
"That could be one of the sites," Cataldo said. "But there are dozens of potentials."
For now, the city is content to leave the site as it is, Dawson said, and let residents enjoy the peace and quiet.
"We're waiting to see what happens," Dawson said. "I think the neighborhood needs the time to readjust to what normal life was like."