The Brownwood City Council met Tuesday morning, December 15, at City Hall.  A portion of the meeting was a joint session with the City of Brownwood Planning and Zoning Commission.  The reason for the joint meeting was to hold a public hearing regarding an amendment to the City’s Zoning Ordinance permitting certain concrete batch plants in M-1 restricted industrial district zones.

Background:

City staff recently became aware that concrete batch plants are not adequately addressed in the City of Brownwood Zoning Ordinance.  To address this issue, staff is proposing to amend the ordinance to include concrete batch plants in M1 zones with conditions and M2 zone without conditions (except those conditions currently in Section 98-591(a) – (c)).  According to the City, with new technology available to concrete batch plants, it is appropriate to provide options to accommodate these advances for concrete batch plants and modern operational techniques.

The proposed conditions for the M1 zoning for concrete batch plants would be as follows:

(1)       must be a low-profile plant, with no stacks or buildings extending over 24 feet high on the site;

(2)       must construct a noise barrier around the plant site, using cement blocks or similar material to help reduce operating noise;

(3)       must reduce noise from the plant and truck traffic at the site by disconnecting any backup tones on trucks and vehicles and any whistles or other warning tones on plant equipment;

(4)       must not crush rock or other material on site; and

(5)       must install a dust recovery system to minimize dust and air pollution.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the amendment to the ordinance followed by approval by the City Council.