Will the City Speak Up on the Asphalt Plant?

In case you missed it, Andy Paden from 10 Tampa Bay News reached out to me yesterday for an interview. He had come across my asphalt plant story and was planning on coming up to Crystal River to do a story and asked if I would be interested in speaking with him. He asked if I had anyone else who might be interested, so I reached out to Alan Ivory, as he was the one who posted about it and had been leading a petition against it.

We met Andy for the interview and he did a great job with it the story and article about it.

One thing to note. The date for the PDC hearing has changed. It has been moved from the April 2nd meeting to April 16th. Adjust your calendars to reflect the change if you plan to be there to speak.

What's next?

I think it is time that we hear from the City of Crystal River and what they think of this proposal? Well, what do they have to do with any of this?

Glad you asked. They own land across the street from this site. The yellow is owned by the city. The purple is the proposed asphalt plant site.

Granted, the city doesn't do much with this parcel (it is a spray field for their treatment facility), but it is zoned agriculture. They absolutely have skin in the game so to speak when it comes to this project. They need to ask how this project will affect the property that they own.

More importantly, they need to ask how this will affect THEIR citizens in Crystal River. Below is a map from the North Florida Land Trust that shows our drinking water and where it comes from. Those dark blue areas are our highest priority zones.

As you can see... this asphalt plant will be smack in the middle of our highest priority areas. All that drinking water flows to Kings Bay. That is water the residents of Citrus (and Crystal River) drink. It would be disaster if something like this were to ruin it.

Which is where the Crystal River City Council comes in.

They have a chance to take a side on this project. They are an affected land owner by owning property directly across the street. Yes, their responsibility largely lies with taking care of the residents within the city limits. This project is not within the city limits.

However, as I showed in the map above, this project has the potential to impact the residents within the city limits. That makes it a project that they should absolutely be concerned with and paying attention to. While they have no say in the matter, they can absolutely make a statement for or against this project.

That is why I challenge them to do. Come out and take a stance on this project, one way or the other. Formally vote to submit a letter to be included in the case file for the PDC and BOCC hearings. Let the residents within the city know where they stand on the matter.

This is not unheard of. I believe back in the early 2020's when the Turnpike Extension was being discussed, Crystal River was aligned with the County in that they did not want it to come here... although I do not think they took an official vote. The county absolutely took a vote and voted to send a letter rejecting the options proposed by the state.

The city can do that here. They can write a letter to the county either supporting the project and zoning change or stating that it should be denied. They can do that because they own property there but also because this may affect their residents in the city. That letter could go a long way in helping decide this case one way or the other.

I hope that they see this and hope that they decide to pick a side before the PDC meeting in April. Their next meeting is Monday. Make sure you let them know you want them to pick a side.

Mayor Joe Meek
jmeek@crystalriver.org

Councilmember Robert Holmes
rholmes@crystalriver.org

Councilmember Chris Ensing
censing@crystalriver.org

Councilmember Gabrielle Satchell
gsatchell@crystalriver.org

Councilmember Mindi Hastings
mhastings@crystalriver.org