Dan Sharp from Hunter Transit was granted permission for an open burn by the Plymouth City Council Monday evening, January 23rd. 

City Clerk-Treasurer Lynn Gorski read the request which said they wanted to use an air curtain incinerator to burn off tree debris on property east of Oak Drive and north of PIDCO Drive in the industrial park. The property is about 18 acres. 

Dan Sharp explained how the air curtain works.  The air curtain basically forces air into the ground.  He said they will dig a 40-foot-long pit and place the tree debris in the pit.  They set up the air curtain and it blows air into the pit. The primary objective of an air curtain is to reduce the particulate matter, or smoke, which results from burning clean wood waste. Using a technology called “air curtain,” the smoke particles are trapped and reburned, reducing them to an acceptable limit per U.S. EPA guidelines.  Plus, it is much faster, saving money and protecting the environment.

Sharp said he will be leasing the equipment from John Langfeldt and running the operation himself.

Councilman Jeff Houin questioned if this was the same type of operation, they approved for Centennial Crossings to clear and burn the trees on that property, and City Attorney Sean Surrisi said it was.

Surrisi also said, 7 or 8 years ago the city was conducting an open burn at the airport and received a citation from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management because they didn’t follow this procedure which is approved by the state.  Dan Sharp said he was the contractor clearing the property for the airport when the city was issued the citation. 

Sharp said the property he purchased in December of 2022 had been let go.  It was logged in 2012 and during that process, a lot of tree debris was left behind.    He intends to make the property usable.  While there is the possibility of access to Oak Drive, Hunter Transport plans to access the property using Bishop Sheridan Drive off PIDCO. 

The Plymouth City Council was agreeable to the use of the air curtain incinerator and approved the open burn permit for Dan Sharp of Hunter Transit.