FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — A UK-based company has proposed building a 76-acre recycling plant on Adams Center Road close to Paulding Road with buildings two to three times the maximum height allowed under local zoning laws.

Exurban Recycling, with headquarters in London, England, is applying for a height waiver on the land zoned for industrial purposes. The 140-foot high smelting plant would be nearly three times the 50-foot maximum allowed under Industrial-2 zoning, according to Allen County planning standards.

Other buildings will also exceed the 50-foot height described in planning documents filed this week with the Fort Wayne Plan Commission. A hearing will take place Oct. 10.

In late April, WANE 15 reported Exurban bought city land at the corner of Adams Center and Paulding roads for $768,000. The address is 5667 Adams Center Road.

This 76-acre parcel at Adams Center and Paulding roads is slated to be a recycling plant with seven buildings over the maximum height allowed – 50 feet.

The international metals recycling company plans to spend $300 million to build the plant which will include a warehouse up to 75 feet tall, a tank house at 90 foot tall, an e-waste building at 115-feet tall and a leach plant and Cu-line buildings planned to be 80-feet tall. A total of seven buildings will exceed the 50-foot high maximum, according to the filed plans.

The company argues that if the building height waiver is not granted, it “will limit the functionality and capabilities of the facility.”

Exurban states in the application that the property is within the Adams Township industrial area and has been marked as an area of potential for economic development in the county’s comprehensive plan. Further, the buildings are not located directly against the required building setbacks and provide more buffer space from the adjacent properties than necessary.

“On the south and west side of the property, there are existing evergreen trees near the row that will provide additional screening that will minimize the impact on residential properties located on the southwest corner of Adam Center and Paulding roads,” the application reads.

There are “no contiguous residential properties,” the application states.

Exurban predicted that in 18 to 24 months,, the company will employ 200 people with jobs that pay between $50,000 and $70,000 a year.

“A lot of American scrap metal is being shipped overseas and facilities like this will keep the product here to be used again,” owners Wes Anderson and Jean-Paul Deco said over a phone device at a Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission meeting in April. The facility will use nuclear power from AEP and there will be “zero-waste,” Jonathan Leist, deputy director of redevelopment, said.

The facility will address the need for the “huge market for copper and other metals,” the owners said. Belgian, German, and U.K. interests are involved in the company.