Sun City residents concerned with proposal for nearby concrete batch plant
Sun City residents say they’re concerned about a proposed concrete batch plant that would be built about half a mile from homes. (Photo: CBS Austin)
Sun City residents say they’re concerned about a proposed concrete batch plant that would be built about half a mile from homes.
Plans for the plant show it would be located off Ronald Reagan near 195.
Neighbors say the plant would increase traffic, impact infrastructure and pollute the environment.
“They have cement trucks which they wash and all of that’s going to go somewhere—my guess is berry creek,” says one Sun City resident.
Monday night— the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality held a public hearing deciding whether to grant the permit to Five Star Concrete Inc.
“The water we use to wash our trucks out go into a pond and we use it over and over and over again,” said one company representative.
However, Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder says if the site was in the city’s jurisdiction a permit would not be granted.
“When you allow these incompatible uses adjacent to each other then you’ve got kind of a dueling property rights situation,” says Schroeder.
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Fermin Ortiz with Texans for Responsible Aggregate Mining (TRAM) says there are already 39 concrete batch plants in Williamson County.
While he says they’re necessary, he and TRAM are pushing for legislation regulating these facilities and taking into account the aggregate harm on the environment.
“We need the industry, we need the product, we need the jobs, taxes, everything coming in from it—we also need to protect Texas,” says Ortiz.
Ortiz says education is the first step.
In the meantime—Sun City residents tell us they feel their hands are tied.
The TCEQ has 35 days to either accept or deny the permit.
