The Downs Village Board passed a special use permit for the build of a Roanoke Concrete Plant 4 to 3 last night, June 3 2021.
Downs resident Beau Davis said there was a petition that had 440 signatures proposed at the meeting to stop the company from coming in.
The population of Downs is just over 1,000.
Mayor of Downs Mike James, who broke the tie and voted ‘yes’ to the special use permit, said the petition had quite a few Tri-Valley parents, not residents who are tax payer citizens.
“Our job as a board is to listen to the taxpayers, the folks who voted us in. There’s a lot more of a silent majority that’s actually there than versus those who signed the petition,” said James. “We didn’t have time to go through and find out what those numbers are, but we also felt with the assessment done by our police department, from a health and safety standpoint, that the concerns that were outlined in the petition, I saw, were addressed in those mitigation procedures.”
James said the risk assessment conducted found there were no risks to having the plant in this location.
Beau Davis said the assessment was conducted by the Chief of police and it used old data. Davis said the risk assessment was not done by a certified third party.
“The Tri-Valley parents pay taxes for their kids to go to school in Downs. This was a quick vote and needs to be investigated, and who from the community will be the ones benefiting from the plant? It is not the children nor the tax payers,” said Davis.
“We have kids going all around on Seminary Street on their bikes, it is a small town so kids, elderly like to walk around,” said Davis. “Citizens are concerned because it is 900 feet away from the school district and I’m worried about the health and well-being of the children.”
James said the area where the truck traffic is coming in and out of is right off a state road and county road. This road will be upgrade to a concrete road. There is an agreement in place where the company will not go through the downtown area, which is also a county road. James said they will use the interstate as much as possible.
Davis is concerned about the environmental impact as well. Davis said he thinks the village passed it because of the potential economic growth.
“I am all for economic growth, but I think the Roanoke plant should not be where it is at. It should be four or five miles outside the town,” said Davis.
Originally the area, where the plant is now planned to erect, was zoned out for commercial.
Davis said the Village Board took a vote to change the zoning from commercial to major industrial.
“I moved to the area for the small-town feel. This is going to change everything. I would like to this stopped and have the city reevaluate the location,” said Davis. “They (Roanoke) already have a plant in Bloomington, that’s two miles away from the nearest school, but why would they want to put one right next to a school in Downs, Illinois? They could revamp the plant in Bloomington.”
James said it is a company decision to decide how the company grows.
“If they feel they have the business and they have the need to expand their operation than they have the right to do that,” said James. “If they do it and they don’t make it, then I guess they’d go under. They would close the Bloomington before they’d close the Downs facility. The benefits to Downs is that we are getting a brand new facility and we will be the primary facility.”
Davis said he wants the voice of Downs Village to be heard.
The next step will be a site plan, which will have to be approved. Then they will have to get permits through OSHA and IEPA.
Roanoke Concrete Products Co., locally owned and operated, started manufacturing concrete blocks in 1948. After a year of operation, business expanded to include ready-mixed concrete. The first operations and growth of the business began in Roanoke, Illinois (located near Peoria, Illinois).
Concerns about dust and air quality is regulated by the IEPA.
“A cement factory is a lot higher of an environmental permit,” said James. “This plant has a vacuum system that eliminates the dust when it is put inside of the vehicles.”
Dust will be produced when concrete is recycled, which happens in the winter.
