Denied Again – Mesquite Concrete Batch Plant for I-635 Project Will Not Go Forward

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EastDallasGreaterGood
The proposed location of the now withdrawn concrete batch plant zoning application on the northwest corner of Northwest Drive and I-30 in Mesquite.

Mesquite’s Planning & Zoning Commission will not hear an agenda item at tonight’s meeting to approve a third concrete batch plant for the I-635 LBJ East project after it was pulled by the applicant, Pegasus Link Constructors, earlier today.

The proposed batch plant, at 5201 Northwest Drive, would be located just a few hundred feet west of the Christian Care Center of Mesquite, a rehabilitation, assisted living and hospice care facility.

An application submitted to Mesquite’s Planning & Zoning Commission on behalf of Pegasus Link Constructors by Elm Creek Environmental sought to change the property’s zoning from “Planned Development – Retirement Housing” to a “Retirement Housing with a Conditional Use Permit” to allow for the temporary plant for the next four years.

In its application, Elm Creek identified the closest off-site residential properties as those south of I-30 on Morningside Drive, ignoring the residents of the fourplex cottages located on the adjacent property just over 400 feet away. In those documents, these homes are deemed commercial and not residential, because they are owned by Christian Care Center.

By the state’s environmental rules, a batch plant must be located at least 440 yards (1320 feet) from any building used as a single or multifamily residence, school, or place of worship. But those rules also state that “…for purposes of this section, only those persons actually residing in a permanent residence within 440 yards of the proposed plant may request a hearing under Section 382.056 as a person who may be affected”, leaving the residents of Christian Care without any means to object to the permit issuance with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
 
Adding to residents’ concerns is that the TCEQ exempts temporary concrete batch plants that are located in the contiguous right-of-way of a public works project, such as this one, from the public notification process.
 
In September, East Dallas Greater Good held a community meeting with TxDOT, it’s subcontractor Pegasus Link, the TCEQ and elected officials including State Representative Victoria Neave, Dallas County Commissioner Dr. Theresa Daniel and Dallas District 9 Councilmember Paula Blackmon to review the potential environmental impacts that the I-635 LBJ East project would bring to the surrounding community. It was then that Pegasus Link first disclosed the new proposed location in Mesquite, which would replace the denied plant at Zacha Junction in Dallas. The two other concrete batch plants being used in this project are located in North Dallas near the High Five Interchange and at the former Hypermart site in Garland. Residents in Garland lobbied unsuccessfully to oppose the plant in their community, citing numerous concerns like air quality and noise pollution.
 
Garrett Langford, manager of Mesquite’s Planning & Zoning division stated earlier today that the application was withdrawn because the applicant no longer had approval by the property’s owner to operate there. DCAD shows the property is owned by Christian Care Center of Mesquite.


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