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An East Palo Alto vehicle recycling plant that has been in operation for more than 75 years is set to shutter after the Planning Commission cited ongoing code violations and negative impacts to the environment at a Monday meeting.
For the owner, Michael Baker, Infinity Salvage is a testament to decades of environmentalism through recycling. But for residents and commissioners, the site painted a different picture – one of land contamination and broken promises.
The group voted 6-1, with Commissioner Robert Allen Fisk dissenting, to reject a phased-out plan that would have pushed Baker to clean up the site and close down his business over three years. Instead, the commission denied the special use permit that allowed him to operate Infinity Salvage, located at 2091 Bay Road.
Commissioners said they did not have confidence that Baker would carry out the goals of the phased approach, including site cleanup and clear compliance milestones.
“There’s not much to be optimistic about here. … Given the prior performance, what is your confidence level that this wind down plan is going to be anything other than a Monday evening dream in July of 2026?” commission Chair Robert Sherrard said.
Due to the nature of the dismantling service, East Palo Alto, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and San Mateo County Environmental Health conducted frequent business inspections over the past few decades. Reviews consistently found code violations including petroleum leaks, oil pooling and hazardous car and battery storage, among other issues.
The ongoing violations came to a head on July 14, 2024, when a fire broke out at the business, “damaging three shipping containers stocked with automobile parts and wooden shelves, approximately 50 stacked vehicles, and the drain station,” according to city documents. Further inspection revealed additional damage. Forklifts were charred and inoperable, office windows were boarded up with plywood and vehicles were burned to their frames, the city found.
Local agencies allowed the business to continue operations, hinging on Baker’s ability to repair the fire damage no later than April 30, 2025. About a year after the deadline, the violations persisted with continuous oil spills, charred buildings in disrepair and hazardous lead-acid battery storage, among other issues, according to city documents.
Baker said the code violations were not intentional and contended that local homelessness and theft have contributed to his plight. His oil pans are constantly stolen, he said, people camp on the property and an attempted catalytic converter theft sparked the 2024 blaze.
“We do the best we can with what we have,” he said.
The city imposed increasing restrictions on Infinity Salvage, the last remaining recycling plant in East Palo Alto, as it developed the region. For decades, the Planning Commission has approved annual special use permits for Baker to operate the business, which he bought in 1974.
East Palo Alto doubled down on operation restrictions in 2013, when it adopted the Ravenswood 4 Corners Transit Oriented Development Specific Plan, a vision for redeveloping the area that includes a stretch of Bay Road between University Avenue and the Baylands Nature Preserve. Through the plan, the city wanted to ensure that vehicle recycling plants were “conducted in a manner that would not negatively impact public health, safety, and welfare, or interfere with redevelopment efforts envisioned by the Specific Plan.”
Residents and city officials alleged that Infinity Salvage failed to comply with those goals.
Lifelong resident Luis Rosas expressed concern over how the business could have contributed to land and species degradation and disproportionately high asthma rates in East Palo Alto.
“This is endangering people here in EPA, the residents, the people you serve,” he said.
East Palo Alto land has a long history of contamination – a mark left behind by former waste management facilities that have contributed to high levels of oil, arsenic, lead, cadmium and volatile organic compounds in the soil and groundwater. These conditions have contributed to the city’s asthma rates, which are 40% higher than neighboring cities.
Local environmentalists, who believe that the contamination contributes to lower local life expectancies, urged the city to address the toxic conditions before developing.
As local development plans accelerate, including the city’s first ever civic center project, city staff hope to use the land for a waterfront office, according to meeting documents.
“While the use has historically operated on the site, it is inconsistent with the long-term land use vision for the Specific Plan area, which is intended to serve as the City’s future downtown,” the documents read.
Baker, who was in favor of the phased-plan, said he was ready to retire his business anyway. Although commissioners criticized his operations, Baker contended that his services contributed to the wellbeing of the city and residents, who, for decades, earned thousands of dollars from recycling their cars.
“What we do for a living is good for the community, and is good for the surrounding area, and is good for the environment,” he said. “We recycle cars, we help people get their batteries, or get their tires, or get whatever they need.”
The commission, which expressed disappointment over Baker’s “lack of accountability,” rejected the yearslong closure plan and plans to instead return to the public with a formal resolution at the July 27 meeting.
Baker will continue to own the land and hopes to rent it to another business in the future. He also told the commission that he suspects that similar businesses will continue to dwindle.
“It’s been a good ride,” he said.
