A victory for Clay neighbors after town board rejects concrete plant

CLAY, N.Y. — The Clay Town Board has officially voted no to the proposed concrete plant.

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

It's a victory for neighbors who spent months fighting the proposal, filling up the board room to share objections to a special permit for the plant.

Neighbors first raised objections to the plans back in March.

The town board began the meeting with an overview of its findings. After hearing the community's cries for months and taking a closer look at the plans submitted by the applicant.

“I think if you all listen attentively, you will know exactly what went into this decision,” said Town Supervisor Damian Ulatowski.

The board agreed with many of the concerns raised by neighbors, like truck traffic.

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“Although the applicant study concludes no traffic mitigation necessary for the project, we disagree. The board concludes our roadways are simply not designed to withstand the impact of the heavy truck traffic," said Clay Town Councilor David Hess.

In addition to traffic, they were worried about what the air quality would be like in their neighborhoods. At Monday night's meeting, their feelings were validated.

“What it could have turned in would’ve been what I would say Pandora's Box,” said Kate Durant. “You let one in and that beefs it up to another level and pretty soon the level of industry just keeps going up.”

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“The weight of the world lifted off your shoulders–well that’s how I feel right now,” said Mark Orr. “For me and the entire neighborhood because as great as an idea this plant would be—not for this area and all the families that live here.”

Mostly, they are happy to know their elected board members listened.

“The town board was tremendous,” said Rick Groll. “I really was impressed by the research we did and they seemingly took all the letters that everyone sent and mentioned things I know came from us.”

Although it took months to get here, neighbors at the meeting gave a loud standing ovation as the proposal was rejected.

Many of them will use this as a lesson to attend the board meetings more often, so they are always aware of new projects that could impact them.