Published: June 16, 2009 01:42 pm      

Asphalt plant ordinance gets Jeffersonville City Council consideration

Changes may be on the way, councilman says

The Jeffersonville City Council is considering an ordinance that would regulate asphalt plants on everything from hours of operation to opacity of emissions.

The ordinance was introduced during a Monday night council meeting. The council did not act on it, opting instead to give members time to mull it over before it’s brought up for a vote.

For months, the Mac Asphalt plant has been a subject of the council’s attention, as residents from the nearby Jefferson Court neighborhood have voiced complaints about soot, odor and noise. If passed, the ordinance would be the first piece of actual legislation based on those complaints.

Jeffersonville Planning Director Jim Urban said that the plant was there legally. Even though it’s a nonconforming use of the land, it was permitted to be there by former planning Director Chester Hicks, Urban said.

The plant has added water to keep down dust. It has added a chemical to keep the smell under control. And plant officials have built a berm between it and the neighborhood.

“Anytime we’ve asked the asphalt plant to comply with an issue they have done so,” Urban said.

Pat Barrow, a Jefferson Court resident who has led opposition to the plant, disagreed with that statement, saying that noise and odor have persisted. Barrow also said she questions the integrity of the permit the plant is operating under because it never went up for a public hearing.

“The permit, to me, doesn’t hold the same validity as someone who went through the process.”

Urban believed the ordinance was “probably way above and beyond what needs to happen.”

Councilman Keith Fetz said he asked attorney Larry Wilder to make the ordinance stringent, so that the body could see how far it could go to regulate the plant.

Fetz said he expected changes before it passed.

“When putting together the ordinance, I did a lot of research across the country,” Wilder said. “What you chose to do is your collective business as a body.”

Mac Asphalt Vice President Chad Unruh said his company and its more than 300 employees have made Jeffersonville home. He appreciated the city’s ability to work with the company. And said he felt like his company had worked hard to overcome the issues being brought to the council.

He also noted the company was willing to be bought out of the property for $10 million.

In other business

In a 5-2 vote, the council passed an update to its credit card ordinance that allows information technology Director Roger Hardy, human resources manager Kim Calabro and Building Commissioner Russ Seagraves to have credit cards.

That brings the total number of cards to 19.

Councilman Ron Grooms, one of the two dissenters, questioned the language of the ordinance on several fronts, noting a lack of controls on department heads. Councilman Mike Smith, who pushed for the ordinance last year, voted against it because the update allows for too many credit cards.