Group files suit to block concrete-making plant

Monday, Sept. 8, 2003 | 9:29 a.m.

A citizens group is suing to block a controversial concrete-making factory approved by the Clark County Commission last month.

The commission, in a 4-2 vote, approved the Ready Mix Inc. batch plant for producing concrete off Blue Diamond Road. The Southwest Action Network, a citizens group representing neighbors in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, announced the lawsuit Friday.

Batch plants, which mix cement, rock, sand and other materials to produce concrete, are scattered throughout Clark County, including at least one just a few miles from the contested site.

Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who voted against the plant, said he would be happy to see the courts overturn the approval.

Neighbors of the proposed site are constituents of Woodbury, and they argued before the Aug. 6 approval that dust, heavy truck traffic, air and water pollution would affect them.

Woodbury said he voted against the $2.5 million project because of the "potential degradation of the quality of life for the large numbers of citizens who live in the area surrounding it."

Woodbury said the master plan for the area, while allowing some industrial uses, would not permit a heavy use such as a batch plant without the commission's approval.

Commissioner Mark James, whose district includes the site where the plant would go, also voted against the project.

Susan Ivy Allen, chairwoman of the Southwest Action Network, or SWAN, said the focus of the lawsuit would be on the always-contentious issue of how the commission adopts zone changes out of sync with the master plans -- rules known as Title 30 in the county books.

"It says clearly in the Title 30 ... a use permit from light industrial and heavy industrial can only be granted when there will be no adverse impact on the surrounding community," Allen said.

While Woodbury and James voted against the project, "the other four commissioners chose to totally ignore that aspect of the case," Allen said. "They said 'We have to have concrete and it's not in my district, so plant some trees around it and everything will be fine.' "

Bob Morris, Ready Mix president, and Jay Brown, the attorney who represented the company during the commission's three-hour debate on the issue, could not be reached for comment.

Attorneys for Clark County, which will have to defend the decision in court, could not be reached for comment.

During the commission debate on the issue, Morris and Brown said that most neighbors did not oppose the project and the company had taken steps to minimize the environmental impact on the area.

County staff and the Ready Mix representatives noted during the discussion that the plant will still have to meet county standards for dust and other pollution control. The approval came with a number of requirements, including the paving of access roads and parking lots and full-time access to water for dust control.

The neighbors said those steps are not enough. Allen said the approval could set a negative precedent throughout Clark County.

"This is one of those things that is so egregious that you can't let it stand," she said. "If they can put it here, they can do anything, anywhere."