Mineola area citizens expressed their opposition to a concrete batch plant planned near the entrance to the Mineola Nature Preserve during public comments at Monday’s Mineola City Council meeting.

The special meeting was called to take care of two brief items, but eight citizens spoke for about half an hour of the benefits of the nature preserve and the potential threats the plant poses to the area.

County Judge Lucy Hebron expressed her “extreme disappointment” as a citizen of Mineola and referenced the city possibly encouraging the location of the plant, even though it is outside the city limits.

City officials have said they knew nothing of the potential location until alerted by the Wood County Monitor that a public notice required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had been posted for an air quality permit for the plant.

The location at Loop 564 and County Road 2724 is across from one area of the preserve, and the county road leads to the preserve’s main entrance.

But the property does not adjoin the city, as the county road separates the land from the nearest city property.

Hebron likened the concrete plant to the Sanderson Farms facility further around the loop to the east that was brought in under the guise of economic progress but has resulted in a lawsuit because of smell, noise pollution and other issues.

There is no remediation, Hebron said of the concrete plant, to make it cleaner, quieter and less dusty.

She also said the State Rep. Cole Hefner had requested the TCEQ to hold a public hearing on the matter.

Numerous citizens have also made that request and may continue until April 4.

Hebron said her office had also fielded many requests from citizens, none of whom have been in favor of the plant’s planned location.

In her remarks at the March 22 council meeting, City Manager Mercy Rushing said that a company had approached the city about finding some acreage for a business, but the city was not told what kind of business, and the city did not have a location that would accommodate the space required.

Since then, the city and the Wood County Economic Development Commission have been working with the firm, Bell Concrete of Sulphur Springs, to see if an alternate location can be found.

Others who spoke in opposition to the plant’s location included Joe Moore, who asked, “For God’s sake and the sake of the citizens, please protect our preserve.”

Carroll and Martha McHenry, who own the Grand Oaks Winery about a mile past the preserve, also spoke in opposition.

“I cannot imagine how a concrete batch plant makes any sense to anybody,” she said.

Marsha Fehl, who owns the property next to the planned location, spoke for the second time, having also appeared at the March 22 meeting.

She said that the particulate matter that the plant could emit is toxic to humans, animals and nature.

In all, about two dozen citizens attended the meeting.

After the comments, Council member Jayne Lankford said she resented Hebron’s comments about the city knowingly being an accessory to the plant’s location and asked city staff to research that claim.