A proposed concrete recycling plant, planned for a location a mile from the Heard Natural Science and Wildlife Sanctuary and near a popular soccer park, is getting widespread pushback in McKinney.
The McKinney City Council met Monday to vote on final approval of the facility, which would be operated by Frisco-based North Texas Natural Select Materials.
Representatives from the museum are among those in the community speaking out.
“We are concerned of any possible environmental impact on the sanctuary itself, watershed impact and impacts to animal movement along the Wilson Creek wildlife corridor,” Sy Shahid, executive director of the Heard, said in an email.
Concrete manufacturing plants are the third-largest industrial source of pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The plants are well-known sources of emissions that contain sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide, as well as dust, which can exacerbate health issues and affect the lungs and vision.
The property, a 54-acre parcel located at 3403 County Road 317, along the east side of County Road 317, and south of Farm to Market Road 546, is just northwest of Fairview Soccer Park.
The park is within McKinney city limits and is leased to Ayses Soccer Club, by agreement with Fairview, according to its website.
Sammy Olali, who played for the Kenyan national soccer team, told NBC 5 (KXAS-TV) last week that he developed the park more than a decade ago. His Ayses Soccer Club has more than 500 members who play there.
Olali and local parents like Andre Schuster are worried about the impact.
“We know that these cement factories, whether they be manufacturing or recycling, are a major source of dust pollution,” Schuster told the station. “It’s just such a terrible idea.”
A petition opposing the plant on Change.org currently has more than 2,000 signatures.
The concrete plant was approved in a Planning and Zoning commission meeting on Aug. 24, according to Denise Lessard, McKinney’s communications and media manager.
“The stated intention of the zoning case petitioner is for a concrete recycling operation, wherein the company crushes, sorts and re-uses concrete materials for use in future roadway construction projects (base material, primarily),” Lessard said in an email.
Lessard said the applicant originally sought to include concrete batch plant operations as an additional use on the property, but that “they recently removed that from their zoning request.”
“They have also recently added a six-foot-tall berm and cedar trees along the southern boundary of their property where [it is] adjacent to the existing soccer fields,” Lessard said.
Lessard said the city’s Comprehensive Plan designates the area as “largely industrial in nature, for which these types of uses are typical.”
Representatives from the Heard Museum say they have been taken aback by the city’s stance.
“As recently as March of 2020, McKinney city staff voiced opposition to concrete batch plants,” the museum wrote in a newsletter to its members.
One year ago, the city began moving forward with plans to close its two other concrete plants, CowTown Redi-Mix and Martin Marietta, which operate along Highway 5, due to zoning non-compliance issues.
A “similar facility” owned by North Texas Natural Select Materials currently operates in Frisco, just east of Preston Road and south of US 380, Lessard said.
Representatives from the company did not return a request for comment.
The Heard Museum said in its newsletter that it hopes the city will listen to its patrons, the petition and soccer parents, among others, and reconsider before moving forward.
“Wilson Creek is one of our few remaining wildlife corridors,” the museum said. “Damaging and polluting this resource would put further strain on dwindling and stressed wildlife populations.”
