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Kechi to asphalt plant: Not here
By Chris Strunk and David Dinell
Last Updated: January 14, 2016

Kechi delivered an emphatic "No" to a Wichita company trying to set up an asphalt plant on the outskirts of the city.

Backed by sometimes emotional testimony from more than two dozen Kechi residents on Jan. 12, the Kechi Planning Commission agreed to recommend that the company's application for a conditional-use permit be denied.

Next step for the company is a hearing by the Metro Area Planning Commission on Jan. 21 before it goes to the Sedgwick County Commission for final action.

However, it may not make it that far.

After the three-hour Jan. 12 meeting, the company's managing member, Chad Bledsoe, told The News that the company may reconsider its application and look for a more suitable location.

"We have to decide if it's the right place or not, ultimately," Bledsoe said. "If people don't want it, they don't want it."

Bledsoe said it was "very possible" that his company's plans may change as a result of the opposition it received.

Kechi residents, who packed into City Hall, cheered the planning commission's decision, and several went to work right away gathering petition signatures to block the construction of the plant and rallying others to contact local and state representatives.

"Even though it's been such a difficult situation where a lot of us have been very emotional — we don't want to lose our homes, we want our children to be safe — it has brought the community together," said Kechi resident Cathy Bonnesen. " … I feel like they were sensitive to us tonight and they heard us. It feels good to be heard, even though the battle is not over."

The asphalt plant is planned for 10.4 acres on the west side of Woodlawn about a half-mile north of K-254 on land that is now zoned limited industrial. 

Although it sits in an unincorporated part of the county, the site is less than a half mile from residential neighborhoods in Kechi.

Residents said the plant will create noise and dust pollution as well as odors, heavy truck traffic and potentially hazardous emissions,

Many said they were surprised to learn that the company had already moved plant equipment to the site. Some feared that a backdoor deal had been made to get the site up and running.

City and MAPC officials assured residents that no such deal had been made, and the company was warned that it must remove the equipment if the permit is denied.

In its application for the permit, the company, Flint Hills Materials, said it would employ between 20 and 30 people and buy natural gas in "high volumes," from the city of Kechi. 

City officials said there have been no contracts for the city to provide the service.

The company likes the location, which was once the site of Caster Excavating, because of its access to K-254 and its proximity to projects around the county. 

"Asphalt material is a high-bulk (volume), low-cost product that cannot be transported very far without greatly increasing the cost to the purchaser," Flint Hills said in a prepared statement.

The property is not in the Kechi city limits, but because of its location in what's call the zoning area of influence, the city, through its planning commission, can provide a recommendation on whether it should be allowed or not to the Wichita/Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, which has oversight on the property's zoning. 

The MAPC will undertake it at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at on the 10th floor conference room of Wichita City Hall. 

The decision from the Kechi Planning Commission does "carry some weight," said Bill Longnecker, senior planner with the MAPC.

However, its decision doesn't end the issue.

"This does not stop it," said Kechi Planning Commission member Bill Moss. "We're against it, but this doesn't stop here."

The city of Kechi, said City Administrator Bob Conger, is neutral in the case as it's outside its limits. The concern, he said, is how it affects the city's comprehensive plans. 

"Whenever planning commissions look at an issue like this, they look at appropriate land use," he said. "Is that land use appropriate for what is intended to be put on there?" 

Bledsoe is owner and operator of CPB Materials, a Haysville-based paving company, and Warren Harshman owns Harshman Construction in Cedar Point, a rock-crushing business. 

Combined, they say they have more than 57 years of experience in the industry and know it and its regulations well. 

Regulations say such a plant can't be closer than 1,000 feet to residences. However, from the site, there are houses 330 and 620 feet southeast of it, 730 feet south of it and 565 feet north of it. 

Thus, the business needs what is called a "conditional use permit" from the county.

In their application for a permit, company officials say the plant will be located behind the buildings on the property, "making only the top of the silos visible from the road."

Planning officials made a condition of the permit that silos cannot be taller than 58 feet. However, that makes them close to the same as a six-story building. 

They also state that railroad tracks will create a barrier and the property's west side and sound from the plant "will not be audible outside of the property." 

Locating a specialty operation such as an asphalt plant means there are limits to where it can be located. 

For example, its owners can't buy land and set up its plant at the nearby Sunflower Commerce Park in Bel Aire, said City Manager Ty Lasher, even if there are no houses nearby. 

"It's not zoned for that," Lasher said. 

Harshman and Bledsoe say they will comply with environmental regulations including noise, smell and dust control. By using natural gas, the plant will reduce emissions by more than 95 percent, they say. 

"We use the latest technology for emission controls that exceed KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) and federal standards by 63 percent, two-thirds less emissions than required by law," they say. 

In order to obtain a permit, planning officials also say that the company must pave Woodlawn, that it cannot use generators or diesel engines for power, and that plant emissions meet minimum standards from KDHE as well as pass yearly inspections.

Subject to platting within a year, the Wichita/Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission planning staff has recommended that the plant's permit be approved. 





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