Denison city council reconsidering ordinance for aggregate sales yard

DENISON, Texas (KXII) - The Denison City council voted this week to reconsider the ordinance for an aggregate sales yard to go in near several neighborhoods after the city made a technical error.

The project will go back to Planning and Zoning after the city didn’t notify one of the nearby neighborhoods near Marin Marietta’s proposed project - a new 12-acre sales yard for stone, gravel, sand and other aggregate construction materials just north of Ray Drive in the Union Pacific railyard.

“What we will do if we haven’t done already is notify those people that needed to be notified and give them a chance to go through this process as well,” Communications and Media Manager for the City of Denison Emily Agans said.

In June, the proposal passed unanimously, to the dismay of some nearby residents.

" Excuse me, okay then you need to vacate the room then please ma’am,” Mayor Janet Gott said.

At June’s city council meeting, residents who live near the proposed site voiced their concerns.

“We got the trees, and then we got 80 yards, 80 yards between a cup of coffee on the front porch and 12 acres of earth moving equipment and hundreds of rumbling dump truck and any number of small mountains of sand and gravel,” A Denison Resident said.

Another problem residents had is the traffic flow as the sales yard is slated to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“So that’s going to be a major deterrent and also just a major problem with traffic flow in general so that is my largest concern with this operation that’s being applied for,” Another Denison Resident said.

Another issue, the dust and dirt that will come from the gravel, sand, and rocks, which representatives from Martin addressed in June.

“And as far as the dust control, we’ll have an employee at full time on a water truck out there maintaining the roads on any dust,” Martin Marietta Spokesperson Shawn Fooley said.

Residents who live 200 feet from the site were mailed notices of the proposal.

The conditional use permit must again be passed by planning and zoning then city council next month.

“There will be public comments so people can come share their opinions about this and then council will hear those and they will vote on the conditional use permit again,” Agans said.