By Edmond Ortiz
Converse City Council voted unanimously Aug. 18 to reject the construction of an asphalt manufacturing plant.
Council took the city planning and zoning commission’s narrow approval of a special use permit, which was being sought to build an asphalt plant on an undeveloped tract along Farm Road 78 near the Salitrillo Creek floodplain.
The planning and zoning commission recommended approval with conditions, such as restrictions on building height, noise and operational hours.
Representatives for the prospective plant operator, including Alan Baxter, a former Windcrest mayor, said his company would be open and upfront about the proposed facility, adding that it would have minimal impacts on the surrounding environment, neighbors, traffic and noise.
Baxter added that the $10 million-plus plant would create 10-15 jobs, produce more than $100,000 in annual sales tax revenue, and provide an immediate, affordable source of asphalt to suit the city of Converse’s needs when it comes to road maintenance and repairs.
Baxter also said, because the property is unsuitable for most other types of development, an asphalt plant would be an ideal business, which would function at a safe distance from the nearest homes and schools.
“We want to be a good neighbor. We want to be totally transparent up here,” Baxter added.
The city issued notices to 14 property owners within 200 feet to alert them of a public hearing happening prior to the council’s discussion on the asphalt plant. The city received responses from a larger number of residents, all of whom voiced opposition.
That sentiment against the asphalt plant carried into the public hearing where several residents spoke out against the proposed facility, particularly homeowners from the Miramar and Hanover Cove neighborhoods located just east of the envisioned plant site.
One of those concerned neighbors, Deborah Coley, wondered if the city or the company behind the proposed asphalt plant had done enough due diligence in vetting the location or various potential impacts of such a facility.
“Once this plant is operating, the consequences of this decision will belong to the people who live here,” Coley said. “Consider what those operations could be – industrial equipment running for hours, heavy trucks entering and leaving the site, aggregate being dumped and moved back up, alarms, engine noise, dust, and industrial lighting after dark.”
Mayor Al Suarez and council members were blunt in their negative assessment of the plant proposal. Baxter said he and his colleagues viewed the idea a “no-brainer” for the community, but did not consider the level of opposition and questions that the proposal would receive from residents.
“There’s only two guarantees – you pay taxes and you die. That’s it,” Suarez told company representatives. “With all of these different chemicals that you’re putting out (from the proposed plant), there are no guarantees, there are just presumptions. I’m not going to risk the people of Converse for that.”
