The asphalt plant next door

The living room at Johnny Smith’s home near the Constitution Lakes Nature Preserve is a mess from building his case for DeKalb County commissioners.

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Two tables are covered with loose government documents, sticky notes, three-ring binders, and other supplies. On the furnace, a blown-up map illustrates a company’s plans to build an asphalt plant not far from his bedroom window. Smith, a gray-haired Atlanta native who works with HVAC units, and his wife, Renee, have lived in the neighborhood off Moreland Avenue for nearly 36 years.

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“It means so much to us, this is our home,” Johnny says.

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The Smiths and other residents near the proposed site have been speaking out for weeks to show their opposition to HEH Paving’s request for a permit to build the project. The Friends of Constitution Lakes organization and leaders of the effort to save the old Atlanta Prison Farm about a mile away are also against HEH’s proposal.

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The county planning commission voted earlier this month to recommend that the board of commissioners deny HEH’s request, as well as the company’s plans for a similar plant outside Lithonia. But commissioners can reject the planning board’s recommendation. The commission was expected to vote on the matter as CL went to press. Either side could appeal the decision.

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“I think it’d be good for the community,” says HEH President Hobson Milner, who founded the company in 1988 and denies the plant would be a detriment to the surrounding area. “I’m not trying to run anybody out of the neighborhood or run anybody out of their houses or anything like that. I’m just trying to grow my business.”

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Johnny and his neighbors know they face an unusual challenge: the land is — and has been for decades — zoned for industrial purposes. According to DeKalb officials, most of the houses were built around 1960, when an ordinance from 1956 allowed residential construction in industrial areas. That revelation is a wake-up call to residents, no matter what happens with HEH.

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“It was all zoned before they got there,” says Commissioner Larry Johnson, who represents the area. “That’s what we told them — ‘You won’t be able to go to any banks and try to sell those properties because it’s all industrial.’”

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Johnson, who last Wednesday said he remained undecided on the proposal, notes that the project would generate tax revenue for the county and that the area is also a “major trucking corridor” and near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

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“You’ve got to have some places for industrial sites,” says Johnson, who hints that adding conditions could make the project more palatable for residents. “Legally speaking, we can’t really just say HEH can’t be there because that’s what’s legally required to be there.”

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Yet the houses and families are also there. By Johnny’s count, there are 38 homes whose residents would be impacted by the operation. They’re planted among industrial businesses along Fleetwood Drive, the access road leading to Smith’s Sunnyhill Drive, and Almand Road, where HEH’s headquarters is located. At one driveway, you can see sparks fly from a welder’s torch. At the next, you’ll see toys littered through a family’s front yard.

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Residents have cited concerns of environmental hazards, as well as general nuisances that might come from the plant, such as additional truck traffic. The environmental concerns focus on airborne pollutants and water runoff into Constitution Lakes, a 125-acre DeKalb County park and preserve. Johnny has studied the slope of the land and the culverts, believing that water from the site is destined for the park, which he says is located within the boundaries of Soapstone Ridge, a protected historic site.

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“We call all this to the attention and we don’t think they’re hearing it,” he says. “Impact is not only on the human side — dust, noise, odor, our health; there’s the investment the county has in this park.”

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The company argues the plant would be monitored to ensure no harm is done to the environment. And Milner argues the plant would help the area. He points to the current state of the neighborhood, which he sees as impoverished and bleak: “There’s nothing over here but a bunch of overgrowth, people dumping tires.”

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Johnny sees it differently. He smiles looking out from his front yard, where roosters and neighbors’ dogs sometimes wander. He recommends visitors come see the birds. The Smiths love the area. The company’s plans threaten to ruin it, he says.

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The couple isn’t sure what they’ll do if the plant is built. They’re still years from retirement and not anxious to take on debt for a new house. Renee gets overwhelmed talking about it and has to step away; Johnny gets quiet.

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“A lot of people are stuck where they can’t move,” he says, pausing. “I may be one of those people.”