SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. (WDEF)- There is a significant amount of opposition to a proposed asphalt mixing plant in Soddy-Daisy.
This plant would be located on Thrasher Pike near its Highway 27 interchange.
Numerous residents, organizations such as Keep Soddy-Daisy Beautiful and North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy, and the Ivy Academy all say they have various concerns about the property.
Those concerns range from noise pollution to the impact on the North Chickamauga Creek.
They say they only learned of the project recently through a legal notice advertising a meeting.
Jim Stewart of Keep Soddy-Daisy Beautiful said, “There’s potential for significant air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution if the facility is operating during the evening, or early morning hours.”
Wynne Anderson, also of Keep Soddy-Daisy Beautiful, added, “We want to create a visual that is welcoming, but we also want to create an environment that is healthy for everyone… So, the asphalt plant just doesn’t fit that.”
Concerns were also raised for the impact on nearby waterways.
Lucien Scott, the executive director of the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy, said, “We are really concerned about the point source pollution coming from the asphalt plant. Mainly the surface water runoff coming from the asphalt plant into the North Chickamauga Creek and its floodplain.”
Possible effects also on students at nearby Ivy Academy, which has just expanded to include the new Skillern Elementary, was also raised.
Ryan Dixon, the principal of Skillern Elementary at Ivy Academy, “We know that the particulates released are going to impact people with health problems. We have students who will be impacted by this. People with asthma, with allergies, there is some long term impacts on our students and community members’ health.”
Those we spoke say they will attend next week’s Soddy-Daisy Planning Commission meeting to speak out against the project.
Dixon said, “Being stewards of our environment sometimes causes us or brings opportunities for us to speak into or actively work towards making choices to impact future generations. Every now and then, we find opportunities come our way where we have to take the things we think about and talk about and figure out how to convert that into action.”
That meeting on the project will be held next Wednesday, August 13, at the Soddy-Daisy City Hall at 9 a.m.
