A final decision on concrete batch plant in Clay to come in coming days

CLAY, N.Y. — Three months after a construction company’s plan to build a concrete batch plant in the Town of Clay sparked a huge reaction from the community — a final decision on the facility could be made as early as the next two weeks.

Town of Clay residents are concerned about potential concrete batch plant

Until then, neighbors in the town continue to share concerns of a plant in the area they say will snarl traffic and bring noise and poor air quality to their neighborhood.

Across the Town of Clay, you can find signs exactly like this one.

The goal is for people to show up big at the next and possibly the final public hearing — to say no to the concrete batch plant.

At the last public hearing on the proposed 50 feet tall concrete batch plant in April, neighbors were expecting answers to their questions and concerns.

“The main concern is location,” said Mark Orr. “It’s too close to residential areas, it has them all over Clay Park Central. That park is just jammed packed with families, with Pop Warner football, with summer soccer leagues —spring, summer or fall. It’s just too close. As inclusive as a plant as they say it’s going to be, it can’t be dust free.”

“People will say this is an industrial zone anyway but the I-1 corridor which is what this is – is light industrial,” said Rick Groll. “That’s for things like warehousing, service type businesses, assembly and light manufacturing. It really excludes this type of industry.”

Chris Dumbach, one of the partners of Goguen Drive Realty LLC, provided the following statement on his proposed concrete batch plant:

Goguen Drive Realty LLC is thrilled to announce that our engineering team has successfully completed the studies that our Clay community members have asked for, for our proposed concrete batch plant. The results have exceeded our expectations, and we are hopeful the town will issue us the special permit necessary to build this state-of-the-art facility in Clay New York which will create many high paying jobs for the area. This development is a significant step forward, as it will enable us to streamline lead times for concrete, a critical component in every construction project.

In documents submitted to the Clay town board this month, it is revealed that the facility will use 18,900 gallons of water per day. That amounts to nearly 7-million gallons per year.

In addition, the concrete plant claims “a significant increase in traffic is not expected for the facility.”

The plans say the site requires 504 total truck trips of concrete and aggregate per day between the hours of 7a.m. to 3 p.m. That’s 63 trucks an hour, or more than one per minute.

As for the potential health risks, they do exist. But an air quality evaluation says controlling the release of cement is paramount.

“These traffic studies, air studies, the noise studies — we’d like to know were they done by third parties or were they done by somebody associated with the people who want to open up this plant?” asked Orr. “I don't know that.

Less than one mile away from the site is the nearest residential property, Liverpool High School, a YMCA and Clay Central Park.

Clay neighbors still without answers to concerns on proposed concrete plant

Neighbors like Orr and Groll are counting on community members who work and live nearby to show up to the town hall on June 3.

“This is the last thing any of us want to be doing,” said Groll. “But we have children, we have families, there’s elderly, there’s people at risk with asthma and other conditions. This is a growing concern.”

“We need as much of the public there as possible,” said Orr. “We’ve been putting up the signs, we’ve been sending emails to everybody.”

If the special permit for the concrete plant is granted Monday---it’s not a done deal.

The permit could still be revoked if the plant is issued a violation and the violation has not been corrected. Still, that requires its own legal process.