Athens residents fight asphalt plant: City gave up control of site, but ADEM reviewing permit

Jan. 31—ATHENS — A controversial asphalt plant planned for property that once was part of the city can't be blocked by the Athens City Council because it voted to de-annex the property in 2020.

Citizens and the City Council have called on the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to deny the property owner's request for an air permit, but an initial ADEM review suggests Grayson Carter & Son Contracting Inc. has met the agency's requirements to build the asphalt plant on 7 acres at 18736 Moyers Road, between Lucas Ferry Road and Hine Street.

Greg Chandler has lived with his wife on a private drive off Moyers Road since 2004 and said the plant would be located about a mile from his home. He said he has several concerns about the proposed plant.

"I'm concerned about the heavy use on the road of the asphalt trucks, the emissions that would be coming out of the plant, as well as a decrease in our property value," Chandler said.

Chandler said there is more than one reason he believes his property value would decrease.

"I think that the heavy use of the trucks along the road would be something that would take away from the attractiveness of the neighborhood for a buyer to come in," he said. "If there was a stench that came from the factory, the houses in that area would certainly be impacted by that."

Ron Gore, head of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management's air quality division, said Friday was the last day for public comment to ADEM for or against an air permit for the plant.

"Several weeks ago, the department wrote a document that included a proposed air permit because ADEM had determined that the application met all of ADEM's requirements," he said Monday.

Gore said the agency received 40 to 50 comments on the proposed permit but only a few addressed issues that could be taken into account by ADEM during the permitting process. He said ADEM's permit is not a zoning permit.

"A lot of people mistakenly think that ADEM can take into account factors like quality of roads, aesthetics, noise, property values in whether a permit should be issued," Gore said.

Gore said it could be anywhere from one to three weeks before ADEM will issue a final determination on whether the permit has been approved.

"Because we got so many comments, we have to prepare a written response to the technical questions and the ones that aren't relevant," he said. "Of course, the response to the ones that aren't relevant will just be that, that they're certainly important questions for the community but not part of our decision-making process."

Gore said ADEM will check to see if any of the relevant comments are valid.

"For example, somebody found some article, that was originally in Arabic, that was translated and said that you shouldn't locate one of these plants near a community," he said. "It may not be correct or change our minds, but it is relevant to be checked out. So that's one of the reasons it'll take us a few days to go through that type of comment."

Chandler is not only concerned about the stench from the plant but also what will be released into the air.

"I know that the Alabama environmental department will do a study on that, but I'm concerned that once the plant goes in it may not be regulated and checked like it should be," he said.

Randy Thomason, Grayson Carter & Son Contracting chief financial officer, said the plant's emissions will be heavily regulated by both the federal and state governments.

"ADEM, which is the state government, have extremely high standards for pollution and environmental concerns," he said Monday. "In order to have a facility you have to meet their standards and if you meet their standards there would be no negative impact for the surrounding area from an environmental or pollution standpoint."

Thomason said ADEM will continue to do inspections while the plant is in operation.

"The ADEM permit is a continual permit, it's not a one-time thing," he said. "There will be regular monitoring from ADEM as a part of the permit."

Thomason said the company is committed to working with the county and the city to keep the road maintained with the added heavy traffic. He said his company respects the concerns of the citizens, but it is in compliance with all federal and state regulations.

De-annexation

Until 2020, the city of Athens had significant control over the land's use through its zoning code.

The site borders Athens city limits and at one time was in the city. On Dec. 14, 2020, the Athens City Council approved a resolution to de-annex 81.86 acres so the land could be excavated.

According to a Jan. 17 letter to ADEM from Halston Carter, president of Grayson Carter & Son Contracting, his company had been excavating the land for two years before being notified by the city that its use of the land violated a city ordinance. The company responded by proposing de-annexation of the land on Nov. 24, 2020, and the council approved the de-annexation Dec. 14, 2020.

Harold Wales, Athens council president and District 2 councilman, said in a special council meeting Friday that he reluctantly voted in favor of the de-annexation.

"The reason that it needed to be de-annexed, or so I was told, is they could not pull the dirt away from that site and it being in the city without a lot of other red tape," he said. "It was going to be used, most of it, here in the city at our park, at our new school, etc., etc. That's why I changed my mind on the de-annexation because I was not going to vote for it unless I had been told that."

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks said none of the dirt excavated from the site was used in the city.

Wales said he was told the site would eventually become a subdivision.

"I was led to believe that there would be houses over there; now it's an asphalt plant," he said. "The asphalt plant I strongly oppose at that location."

Dana Henry, District 4 Athens councilwoman, said after the meeting that she voted for the de-annexation based on the information they had at the time.

"We had nothing that led us to believe that an asphalt plant would ever be in the plans and I do not believe it was at that time," she said. "It was our understanding that once the dirt was moved and that site was no longer useful for that dirt, they would likely annex back into the city and do a large lot residential area."

Wayne Harper, District 5 Athens city councilman, agreed.

"I think all of us were in the same boat as far as what we thought," he said. "I would have never voted for this if I had known this plant was coming."

In his Jan. 17 letter to ADEM, Carter said the plan at the time of the de-annexation was to resume excavation of the land and eventually return it to its agricultural use.

In the letter, Carter said a decision was made in September to instead construct an asphalt plant.

Resolution

The Athens City Council on Friday unanimously approved a resolution, which was sent to ADEM, opposing approval of an air permit for the plant.

"The city council finds that the placement of an asphalt plant at such location would be inappropriate," the resolution says. "The city council finds that the presence of the asphalt plant at this location would result in odors and emissions that could be detrimental to the public health and welfare, and would constitute a public nuisance."

The resolution also mentions that there would be a negative impact on nearby property values and that heavy traffic would damage the roadways.

"For reasons stated in this document, the city council strongly opposes ADEM's issuance of an air permit for an asphalt plant at 18736 Moyers Road, and urges ADEM to deny that permit," the resolution says. "The city council calls upon Grayson Carter & Son Contracting, Inc. ... to reconsider its current plan in light of the concerns expressed in this resolution, and to withdraw its application for an air permit for an asphalt plant."

Henry said the plant should be located somewhere else.

"I realize that asphalt plants have to exist and they have to be used but they can be better located in places that don't have such direct impact on residential areas," she said. "The plant would literally have been in these people's backyards when it could have been located someplace elsewhere without having such a direct bearing on residential areas."

Gore said the resolution was one of the few relevant comments submitted to ADEM and will be reviewed carefully.

"But merely the fact that it was the Athens City Council doesn't give any more weight than anybody else's comments because it's not in their jurisdiction," he said, since the de-annexation.

Thomason said Grayson Carter & Son has not established a construction timeline, assuming the air permit is approved.

"There's other work to be done in terms of site preparation. We kind of have to take it step by step so we have to have one thing done before we can move to the next; we don't have a definitive schedule," he said.

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.