COMPLAINTS OF HORRIBLE NOISE FROM QUIKRETE - 1200' AWAY!!!
The Industrial Park that is next door to Mark Twain Middle School should remain LIGHT INDUSTRIAL and the Health, Livability and Welfare of the children that attend that school and the neighbors and wildlife that surround that site should not be compromised! We have spoke to people who live MUCH FURTHER away from other US Quikrete Sites (1200' or more away) then the close proximity we are considering here in Silverton. They have all commented that the NOISE from these plants are OUTRAGEOUS and that complaint after complaint was blatantly ignored....some saying it took over a year to get any change at all and the change was barely noticeable at that! One man spoke of hearing this horrible seal/suction that was impossibly loud happening throughout the day at the plant. Probably when the they hook up the tank trucks who bring in the nasty Portland Cement/Silica mix and load them into their 70 foot towers! There's something we can all look forward to! And this is coming from people who live 1200' away from Quikrete sites! MARK TWAIN MIDDLE SCHOOL WILL BE DIRECTLY NEXT DOOR TO THEM HERE! Imagine the interruption to our children's learning with that kind of noise going on during school hours. It was already testified about how loud Redman Homes are and here we are considering something in its place that will OUT BLAST REDMAN/CHAMPION noise by a mile! And what about the surrounding neighborhoods? What about their quality of life? The CITY decided to turn the land surrounding this site into neighborhoods! Now they behave like we don't even exist......like we're still just acres of "PASTURE LAND" and they are oh so concerned about Quikrete's "rights" to be here. What about our rights as citizens? We're not just acres of nothing over here! We are families and citizens who invested our lives here, bought into the common vision of Silverton as the GARDEN CITY...and we all deserve better then what QUIKRETE has to offer us!
Noise
I live in a Webb Lake home. I know most of my neighbors are opposing this project based on property values, this is not a legally valid reason and cannot and will not be taken into consideration by the powers at be. We all knew what surrounded us when we bought our homes. Have you read the noise report for this project? It seems as though they will easily meet noise standards both day and night. I picked up a copy at the city along with the rest of the application. Instead using hysteria, why don't you make your case with facts? The fact remains that Quikrete meets all of the standards for this zone and ultimately will be allowed to operate here. We need the jobs and if they don't live up to their standards we will have recourse. The funny thing is that the city has no record of ever receiving a complaint on Redman Homes.
I forgot to mention DEQ..."our fabulous recourse"
One additional reply to your comment about us having "recourse" if Quikrete doesn't live up to the standards they need to:
HAD YOU BEEN AT THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS you would have heard OVER & OVER again the commissioners own voiced concern about relying on DEQ. It should still be running on SCAN-TV so why don't you check that out also. I believe the Chairman's own words were very clear about NOT BEING ABLE TO COUNT ON DEQ to do their job and be the protective environmental watchdogs they are perceived as.
In other States where there have been noise complaints neighbors have been blown off and nothing done...even when large groups have risen up, FED UP - it took a whole year to see the smallest change occur. Silverton does not have the infrastructure needed to monitor and enforce an outfit like Quikrete. Our fines are chump change for a company like this. They can pay them and keep on violating. Our City Officials did a horrible job or monitoring Redman when they were in there. Though that site is incredibly close to City Hall and they could have driven there anytime - nobody ever did. They never checked anything out for themselves to make sure Redman was operating properly. I am not naive enough to believe there were NEVER any complaints or concerns voiced by people living close by. The previous principal of Mark Twain testified how awful Redman was while they were in there and how nothing was monitor or done about it.
When your own City Officials are expressing their lack of faith in DEQ (ON THE RECORD) to keep Quikrete on the straight and narrow...that's called a BIG RED FLAG. And "cause for REAL concern" ....not hysteria & not a reliable "recourse".
Not Just About Property Values JC
As one of your fellow neighbors, I take offense at the insult that hysteria and property values (plus a lack of facts I believe you tossed in there as well) are driving the only concerns coming from your neighborhood & your city. Clearly you have not attended any meetings either within your neighborhood or the last two Quikrete related City meetings. IF you had, you would know that a majority of your neighbors and the citizens of Silverton do not want Quikrete in that location for MANY VALID AND FACTUAL reasons. It's HEAVY INDSUTRIAL for one and unlike the food processing or anything we have dealt with over here before. If you have done ANY research at all, which clearly you have not, you would realize how out of place the Silverton location is compared to the majority of Quikrete plants in the United States - so far I haven't found one next door to a school and in the middle of neighborhoods. This is easily verifiable. You can pull the satellite images of their plants off Google Earth. There are 80+ plants...why don't you start checking them out. There has even been contact made with people who live near established Quikrete sites, (none of them living as near as this location however...most Quikrete sites are not dropped in the middle of neighborhoods!). Their complaints of NOISE are very REAL & FACTUAL I can assure you! Also....to correct your "The fact remains that Quikrete meets all the standards of this zone" That is not true. IF they did, they would not have needed to apply for CONDITIONAL USE. THE "FACT" THAT THEY APPLIED FOR CONDITIONAL USE MEANS THEY DID NOT MEET THE CRITERIA FOR THAT SITE WITHOUT REQUESTING EXCEPTIONS and even though the Planning Commission approved them in a 4-2 vote they imposed tighter restrictions’ then Quikrete was asking for. But you likely didn't attend that meeting either, right? Quikrete is a company who given an inch will eventually take a mile. You can read their 10 year plan. Operating 24/7 - tons of trucks per day and dramatically changing the landscape of our community, not to mention our basic rights to health and wellness we all invested in when we made Silverton our home.Oh...and the noise report your noting....that came from QUIKRETE themselves! Check your "facts" neighbor. You obviously aren't aware the City relies on the applicant (AKA QUIKRETE) to provide that data for them? It's true...you can call the city and ask them. The "fact" is that most of the information in that Staff Report was based on information Quikrete provided. Silverton should have hired independent studies to be conducted researching the impact of such a heavy industry next door to our school, wetlands and neighborhoods. The Staff Report should have been based on REAL investigative research that did not get provided to them by QUIKRETE! Did you also gloss over Quikrete's RESOUNDING DISCLAIMER at the end of their MSDS? Do you even know what a MSDS is? Material Safety Data Sheet. They take no liability and no responsibility whatsoever for any negative health impacts related to their silica based products. Have you done any research into Quikrete's environmental violations? It's obvious, the answer is no. You just believe the Big Bad Wolf really is Granny don't you...because after all he's wearing all her clothes, right! You're exactly the kind of person Quikrete wants as their neighbor. As for me and the majority of Silverton citizens, you'll have to excuse us if we are rooting that this story NOT end with you & Quikrete living happily ever after together.