Tarrant County School Board publicly opposing potential new concrete plant
TARRANT COUNTY - Concrete is here to stay. We walk on it, we drive on it, and we build with it. But, when it comes to the J-7 Ready Mix concrete plant near Mansfield, residents and schools are trying to push the plant out.
This plant is partially built on the corner of Rendon and Rendon Bloodworth Roads, which is in unincorporated Tarrant County. A room full of people came to a Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) public meeting Monday night to express their overwhelming concerns. Two J7 Ready Mix managers also attended and told the public they want to help the community, not hurt it.
"We have no intention to try to act in malice or bad faith, " Richard Mayhew, J7 Ready Mix manager, added, "We're just a little bit uneducated."
"Did you realize that you were going to be within 200 yards downwind of a proposed elementary school for the Mansfield school district?" one resident asked the managers.
"We were aware of that," manager Fernando Garcia said.
The Mansfield school board plans to vote on a resolution to oppose the ready-mix plant in their meeting Tuesday. Mansfield ISD sent CBS News Texas the following statement:
"Mansfield ISD is strongly opposed to plans by J7 Ready Mix to construct a concrete batch plant near its schools. The company's proposed construction site is 600 feet from the district's future intermediate school site, 2,600 feet from the district's future high school site and two miles from a current elementary school. MISD believes manufacturing concrete this close to campuses poses an unnecessary risk to public school students in the community."
Some attending the meeting said they worry about silica and limestone that are used to make concrete. J7 Ready Mix said it does not use those materials.
"Our original plant in Alvarado, which we don't plan to change the recipe, uses a river rock, a river-based sand, non-silica base sand that comes from Turkey Mexico, which is not lime based," Mayhew explained at the meeting.
The Tarrant County Fire Marshall also says J7 did not get a construction permit before building. The TCEQ said in Monday's meeting, it is also investigating the company on its permit process.
