Guthrie’s City Council on Tuesday night unanimously denied a request to rezone an approximately 37-acre portion of property located along the south side of E. Seward Road between Sooner Road and Interstate 35 from R-1 (Single-family Dwelling District) to I-2 (General Industrial District).
Because it denied the rezoning request, the Council did not take any action for a Special Use Permit request to allow for a concrete batch plant and associated uses within the I-2 zoning district.
The Guthrie Planning Commission previously had denied the rezoning of the property for the applicant, Van Eaton Ready Mix, Inc.
The property encompasses 105 acres but only the northern 37 acres is within city limits. The proposed concrete plant is within those 37 acres.
A large portion of the property is within the floodplain. The floodplain runs diagonally through it, from the southwest to the northwest, encompassing approximately 47 acres. Ward3CommissionerDon Channel gave a presentation as to the restrictions the City Council could place on the applicant if approved, but added that if they denied the request, the applicant could place the concrete batch plant on the southern end of their property, which lies in Logan County, and has no zoning regulations for building.
“They (Van Eaton Ready Mix, Inc.) bought this property to put a plant in,” Channel said. “There is going to be a plant there on that property. This part that they still own (outside city limits) down towards the south and west, that is not under our control. We can’t say anything about it. They are going to go there because Logan County has zero zoning, and zero code enforcement.”
The City Council heard from several residents who expressed displeasure and concern about the proposal, citing environmental concerns, including runoff from the plant contaminating the water supply at Guthrie Lake.
Channel said all environment issues with the plant would be under the direction of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
“For the Council, it becomes more of a land use issue because we can say yes tonight and DEQ can tell them no,” he said. “That is something we don’t have any (environmental) control over. DEQ has the say-so, and they could override us anyway. I will be the first to admit it. I don’t like it (plant) and I don’t want it, but everybody has the right to use their property if it fits within the rules.”
Ward 3 Councilman Tracy Williams told the audience that the City Council was trying to find the best solution possible. “The thought was, if we put it there (in city limits), we would have some sayso,” Williams said. “It was for your benefit that we thought we would have some control that we wouldn’t get otherwise.”
City Manager Leroy Alsup concurred.
“You have a group of councilmen that looked at options and presented those options, and they listened to your (audience) input, so the system worked,” he said.
In other matters, Alsup told the Council that the city has received nine applicants thus far in its new City Manager search, and the application process would remain open until Dec. 2.
Alsup is retiring in April, 2023.