The Archer City Commission stopped short of voting Monday night on an application for a conditional use permit (CUP) for a concrete batch plant after the applicant withdrew his application while a motion to reject was still on the table.
Ronald Arnold of R.E. Arnold Construction had applied for the CUP to place a concrete batch plant on five acres of a 24-acre site he owns, the same property as the vacant Maddox Foundry and Machine Shop.
Though the property is well within the city limits, it is designated for industrial use, and the Maddox foundry cast metal there for 117 years. A concrete batch plant is already an allowable use in industrial zoning, but Arnold’s desire to place the operation outside, not enclosed in a building, requires a CUP, according to consultant Bryan Thomas.
At Monday’s quasi-judicial hearing, commissioners were required to approve the CUP unless they found the applicant failed on any of five counts:
- Fails to comply with the land development code
- Poses a danger to public health and safety
- Poses a substantial adverse impact on adjacent property values
- Is substantially out of character with the existing neighborhood
- Conflicts with the city’s comprehensive plan
A notable portion of the arguments were occupied with defining what evidence the commission could use to make its decision, and on whether citizens’ personal experiences were allowable as competent, substantial evidence.
Attorneys noted that while some things, such as internet research, may be hearsay and inadmissible in a courtroom, the standards are different in a quasi-judicial hearing. Still, commissioners were required to consider only the evidence presented on Monday night in their decision.
“[The decision] is not supposed to be based on the popularity of the proposal,” Thomas told the commission. “Popularity is not allowable as evidence in a quasi-judicial setting.”
After about six and a half hours of arguments from attorneys and testimony from Thomas, experts and affected parties, Commissioner Joan White made a motion to reject the application, saying she believes the use does not fit with land development code, and is contrary to the comprehensive plan’s outline for a historic district.
Commissioner Fletcher Hope seconded the motion with a different line of reasoning, saying the CUP for an outdoor, heavy industrial use would be completely different from the previous industrial application.
While two more commissioners did not express strong opinions as they mulled over the vote, Mayor Iris Bailey said she disagreed with White and Hope.
Arnold, who had sat quietly throughout the meeting, finally spoke to the commission during a final public comment on the item, saying the town has a high poverty rate and decreasing population, and that his concrete plant would help provide jobs.
“This is the right project for Archer,” Arnold told the commission. “I’ve been a good citizen for the city of Archer… Someday, in this town, you’ve gotta be willing to do something with this town.”
Before the commission could take a vote on the motion, Arnold’s attorney notified it that her client was withdrawing his application and would resubmit a new application with a new application fee, this time for an indoor concrete batch plant.
Arnold’s application was placed on the agenda of a Planning and Zoning Board meeting in March, but an hour into the presentation, it was postponed to a later date because adjacent property owners had not been notified.
The Planning and Zoning Board finally voted on the item in July, but was split 2-2 on whether to recommend approval to the commission, as board member Ann Green recused herself from the vote because of a conflict of interest.
The version of the application that came before the commission on Monday included six conditions:
- Include an eight-foot earthen berm to the south, west and north sides of the plant
- Maintain additional buffer area on southernmost portion of tax parcel
- Include a six-foot sound attenuation fence on top of the north and south sides of the earthen berm, facing residential areas and the church
- Operating hours restricted to between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m.
- Construct new or improve existing stormwater management facilities on site, and will take stormwater from SR 24 per agreement between applicant and FDOT
- Will operate in strict compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws pertaining to safety, noise and emissions
While one citizen commenter acknowledged that the application has improved each time Arnold has brought it back, and several said they are not opposed to having something of the sort in town, many still had concerns about health aspects and traffic impacts of the plant.
“You guys have in your hands tonight the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Archer,” citizen Gary Williams told the commission.