The fight over a planned concrete batch plant in Royse City is over for now.
At a community meeting to oppose the project Wednesday, consultants for JCK Concrete, the company who planned the project, told neighbors the plant would no longer be built.
Many of those neighbors, more than 2,000 of which are part of a Facebook group opposing the plant, said they found out about the project within the last few days.
JCK Concrete had already been granted a permit by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to build on a plot of land across from Royse City Middle School, close to two other schools and a daycare.
Parents at Wednesday's meeting said they had concerns over possible health issues from the dust concrete plants emit, which some studies have found to be harmful.
Kirstie Mackie was among them. Mackie's a mom of three, and her youngest was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at just 19 days old. She said if the plant were to be built, her family would be forced to move. She said she believed the dust would be harmful enough to kill her son Rhett, who already does two breathing treatments each day to help clear his lungs.
"Nobody wants to watch their children grow up in a toxic environment, and physically, that's exactly what this is," Mackie said.
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While neighbors organizing against the project were grateful to see it put on hold, they said they'll keep writing letters to TCEQ until they have the company's word in writing that they won't move forward with a plant.
