The North Little Rock City Council rejected without a vote Monday a proposal to allow the crushing and sale of concrete within a residential neighborhood on the city's east side.
The ordinance proposed by Alderman Maurice Taylor would have granted a special use permit for the "storage, recycling and sale of concrete rubble" at 12602 Faulkner Lake Road, a site within an area zoned for residential use. Taylor's motion to approve the proposal failed for lack of a second after much discussion among council members and the objection from a couple who live nearby.
Some aldermen expressed concerns that the proposal hadn't first gone through the city Planning Commission and that work on another project by the same applicant to construct a pond on the same property had already begun. The City Council hadn't yet considered the application for the pond, and the applicant lacked a required state Department of Environmental Quality permit.
Alderman Murry Witcher first made a motion for the City Council to refer back to the Planning Commission for review of the concrete proposal and a separate ordinance to allow a concrete batch plant at 9912 U.S. 165 -- again by the same applicant. His motion failed.
Kaye Lynn Tankersley was the applicant for the latter two proposals and represented AR Trison Farms LLC, on the legislation to grant a special use permit for the pond at 12602 Faulkner Lake Road. Aldermen approved the pond permit, 6-2, with Aldermen Witcher and Charlie Hight voting no. The special use permit request for the concrete batch plant was granted in an 8-0 vote.
Council members heard complaints from Gene and Candy Levy, who live near 12602 Faulkner Lake Road, about noise and dust from the pond construction underway and their objection to the proposal to have concrete crushed at the site.
Tankersley said the pond and concrete recycling projects on the property had strict erosion and dust controls in place, but a Department of Environmental Quality permit for the pond project hadn't been acquired. Both ordinances would have limited the projects to one year.
Gene Levy said the concrete rubble project would have involved "the grinding of concrete slabs into gravel" that would be sold to the state Highway and Transportation Department.
"It would be like you had a quarry right next to your house," he said. "That is not good. My wife and I don't think this should be allowed because of the disturbance to the neighborhood."
Alderman Linda Robinson said she had concerns about the project because of the "dust nuisance."
"If the problem is with dust, how do we protect the neighbors from dust?" she said. "I wouldn't want a problem like that next to me. I don't know how we protect the people there."
Metro on 02/14/2017