FILLMORE : Concrete Plant Corrects Conditions

After more than a year of review, the Fillmore Planning Commission has decided that a concrete products company has met operating conditions required by a city permit.

Following a public hearing this week, commissioners ruled that Hurst Concrete Products has come into compliance with a conditional use permit, clearing the way for the company to expand its facilities at the Fillmore Industrial Park.

The permit requirements were set in September, 1990, after residents near the Hurst plant complained that the company operated after hours, generated excessive noise, and had failed to plant the landscaping agreed to under its original permit.

The complaints were triggered by the Fillmore City Council’s approval of a proposed expansion of the plant. After the complaints, city officials said Hurst had to correct the permit violations.

The commission conducted seven hearings last year to determine whether Hurst had installed noise-reduction devices on its equipment and was operating only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays. The extensive landscaping required by the city was the last condition to be met.

The Hurst operation will be reviewed again in January, 1993, city officials said. Assistant city planner Tony Perez said there have been few complaints from residents in recent months, and no public testimony was given at the final hearing Thursday.

Despite the commission’s decision, Hurst officials have said that plant expansion has been put on hold indefinitely because of the slow economy.

If the operation were to expand, the company would be subject to a new series of requirements to minimize the effects on neighboring homes, Perez said.