Latest News on SE Asphalt’s proposed hot mix asphalt plant:
Follow our updates here and join our Facebook group to get the latest news on the conditional rezoning application #R-2020-03-C submitted on behalf of SE Asphalt – Jeff Shipman on May 1,2020, which requests Henderson County conditionally rezone a 6.5 acre portion of land, currently owned by Dustin Gosnell of DGP HOLDINGS LLC and Nathan and Kelly Byrd of NKMR VENTURES LLC, to a conditional district to construct a new asphalt drum plant located off Spartanburg Hwy (US 176) in East Flat Rock, North Carolina.
The proposed site of this asphalt drum plant is on the northeast corner of Highway 176 and US Highway 25 (Exit 7 on Highway 25), within one mile of hundreds of single family homes, small farms, the Green River Game Lands, and the Eastern Continental Divide. The headwaters of Laurel Creek, which feeds into the Green River gorge, is less than 300 feet from the proposed site.
The property is currently zoned Community Commercial, which allows for residential and commercial uses, such as office buildings and retail sales and services. Asphalt plants are not currently permitted and special conditional rezoning must be obtained in order to build a heavy industrial plant in such close proximity to neighborhood homes, schools, and churches.
Foot on the gas! We’re not there quite yet.
Thursday night was a BIG win for us when our Henderson County Planning Board members recommended to deny Jeff Shipman’s application for conditional zoning after a 5-2 vote – but don’t celebrate too soon. While the planning board’s recommendation will help influence the final decision, the Board of Commissioners can still approve the Conditional District rezoning application when it comes [...]
Imagine hundreds of cars revving in a parking lot
In a strange twist this week, SE Asphalt published an air quality comparison showing the impact of its proposed hot mix asphalt (HMA) plant within the 4.3 square mile community of East Flat Rock. Attempting to compare their projected emissions to the all of the cars, trucks, and SUVs already owned by residents and driven in our community, they neglected [...]
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
One of the few “arguments” we’ve continually heard from those who are in favor of a building a hot mix asphalt plant in East Flat Rock is that it will bring in new jobs and, therefore, stimulate economic growth in the county. But just how many new jobs will the proposed plant create? At first, it was 6-7 new full-time [...]
Empty chairs. No one cares?
By now, Jeff Shipman, his mother Verna Shipman, or someone else with self-serving motives has probably contacted the Planning Board members to let them know only two people attended their "public meeting" on August 4 and that, even though many of us sign petitions and write letters opposing the plant, we're not sufficiently motivated to attend a meeting. We are [...]
Let’s pack the house on August 20!
Unless you're socially distancing on a deserted island or a uninhabited mountain top (don't I wish), you probably know by now that Jeff Shipman's conditional re-zoning application to construct a new hot mix asphalt drum plant is the sole agenda item at Henderson County’s Planning Board Meeting on Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 5:30 pm. The Planning Department says there [...]