Bart Jones says he wants “to get started right away” on construction of his concrete plant in the quarry off U.S. 25/70 after the Madison County Board of Adjustment voted 4-1 to approve a conditional-use permit for the facility.
The vote came after a five-hour long public hearing last week in the courtroom of the Madison County Courthouse.
Attorney Doug Wilson, representing Jones and Carolina Ready Mix of Swannanoa, told the board that such a plant in Madison would have “no injurious effect” on neighbors in the area.
But during his presentation, attorney Patsy Bryson, who was representing nearby landowners opposed to the permit for a concrete plant, repeatedly objected to information brought up by Wilson or suggestions by Wilson about the safety or condition of the proposed plant.
Bryson told the board that “the burden is on the applicant” to prove that the proposed plant wouldn’t harm property values or put neighbors’ health at risk.
“We believe the applicant will not be able to meet the burden,” she told the board.
But in the end, the board said Jones had the right to build his facility, with Darlyne Rhinehart the only vote against it.
Bryson presented witnesses and experts to try to explain that the location of the concrete plant would cause the value of other property to drop, that the risk of possible toxins would endanger residents, children and patients at the nearby Elderberry Healthcare facility, and that the facility would impact homes that Jones hadn’t considered in his application.
But Luther Smith, a landscape architect and land planner from Hendersonville, said under oath that the McCrary Quarry “is a good location for this facility. I think it’s a very good site.”
Dr. Susan Kask, a professor of economics at Warren Wilson College, countered, saying that the location of the ready mix plant could have a negative impact in the millions of dollars.
“You may be introducing lower property values,” she told the board, “impacting the undeveloped property and future potential use” of other parcels in the area.
A doctor and a nurse told the board they opposed the plant, and Madison County Health Director Carolyn Moser, saying she was “not here on behalf of either party, but as it relates to the health of Madison County,” said “a concrete plant can be a health hazard.”
Jones said he felt the board “really took everything into consideration and made the right decision.”
He said the plant will employ nine to 10 local people and will serve people in a 25-mile radius of the facility.
Source: Sentinel
