A new $3 million asphalt plant is coming to Greenwood and bringing 15 to 20 jobs with it.
Angela Curry, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Board, announced the move Monday before the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
Curry asked the board to sell APAC-Mississippi 15 acres in the Industrial Park — with the option to buy five more — at $3,000 per acre, which it unanimously voted to do.
The Greenwood City Council must also approve the sale. Curry said she’d bring it before the council at its next meeting.
APAC bought J.J. Ferguson Sand & Gravel Co.’s asphalt plant along U.S. 82 in February and tore it down.
Curry said APAC approached the Industrial Board on May 5 looking for a site for a new operation. She said they looked at several but were limited by needs such as natural gas lines and size.
But the site on Cypress Avenue across from the vacant former Hamlin Sheet Metal building fit the bill.
Supervisor Phil Wolfe said the 15 to 20 jobs are great and locating the asphalt plant here will save the county money because it was looking at hauls of at least 30 miles to get asphalt.
Supervisor Robert Collins commended Curry for helping to get the plant and said he had potholes ready to be patched.
Supervisors Robert Moore and Preston Ratliff raised questions about the project.
Moore said the Ferguson asphalt plant drew constant complaints from nearby residents about dust. He said he knows the benefits but “there’s a lot of potential harm here.”
Dust could hurt sensitive machinery at other industries in the park, Moore said.
Curry said she checked with her counterparts in Indianola, Meridian and Greenville — where APAC already has asphalt plants — and they expressed no problems with dust. She said she also talked with existing industries in the park and they had no concerns as long as there wasn’t dust or a bad smell.
Brian Moore, who handles APAC’s environmental regulations, said the Ferguson plant was an old batch plant, while the new one will be a 2004 model drum-mix plant.
“You’ll have minimal odor. I mean, liquid asphalt has a little bit of an odor to it. There’s no question. We’re going to have a little bit of dust at startup and shutdown. This is a modern plant. It’s a drum-mix plant. This is not going to be dealing with what you dealt with at 82,” he said.
Moore said the company must have emissions tests by an outside consultant every two years and does monthly and daily checks itself.
He said APAC has had no problems with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and invited supervisors to check MDEQ records on its 12 asphalt plants throughout the state.
Ratliff asked if roads were designed to support such volume and if trucks would enter through residential neighborhoods.
County Administrator Sam Abraham said the roads were designed to an 84,000-pound standard and trucks would exit out onto Baldwin Road and across railroad tracks to U.S. 49.
Also Monday:
nThe board approved a 10-year tax exemption for $1 million in inventory and $90,000 in equipment at Delta Oil Mill, which processes soybeans. It reopened the shuttered former PYCO cotton seed plant last year, investing $11 million in converting it.
Moore told John Stewart of Delta Oil Mill it sounds like the plant is here to stay. Stewart said he hopes so.
“We have had industry to finance their moving through tax exemptions,” Moore said.
The board voted 4-0 to approve the exemption with Moore abstaining.
“I’m not opposed to it; I just want to abstain for a minute. I’ll probably wake up next month and be OK,” Moore said.
• Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
