Muskego homeowners living near a giant concrete pile plan to attend Tuesday's common council meeting to let the city know they are still worried about a company that violated the zoning code.
Last fall, residents said they had to listen to concrete being crushed and breathe in dust for months before it was stopped. Now, they are worried the operations could start back up. It is why homeowner Stephen Van Goethem says he reached out to TMJ4 News.
"We believe this is our only option to prevent this from ever happening again," Van Goethem said.
Van Goethem said he and other homeowners in his subdivision were seeing and hearing the business operations a little less than a mile away.
Watch: Muskego homeowners urging city not to let dust and noise start again from concrete crushing operation
"The windows are shaking, the house is vibrating and we couldn’t figure out what was going on," Van Goethem said.
Van Goethem provided video of the operations to the city. TMJ4 also found the city received numerous complaints about trucks entering the business at night and concrete being crushed on-site.
"This company was hauling in concrete and asphalt at an alarming rate," Van Goethem said.
"This pile is large there, but it is even larger further back," Van Goethem said.
TMJ4 obtained a copy of a letter the city sent to PJ Trucking in October, warning the business that it was facing multiple violations for how it was operating. A second letter spells out the violations and tells the business that no crushing can occur on-site and is not allowed within the zoning district.
TMJ4 reporter Rebecca Klopf spoke with the owner of PJ Trucking, Patrick Theys, over the phone. He said he believes he wasn’t doing anything wrong, that it is within state law to crush concrete on his property, and he wants to start again.
Theys said he plans to fight these restrictions and has hired an attorney to do it.
Mayor Rick Petfalski said the city will fight the process vigorously.
"I’m a big property rights guy but we have to follow zoning and zoning in his particular property does not allow it," Petfalski said.
"We just want to make sure the city does what it is supposed to do which is stay on top of this," Van Goethem said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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