Plan denied to operate rock crusher and concrete plant at airport

A company's plan to remove a hill at the Carson City Airport and build a rock-rushing, concrete and asphalt operation to be used in the Carson freeway project was denied Wednesday by the city Planning Commission.

"There's just a lot of pieces missing here that I'm having trouble with," said Commissioner Mark Kimbrough.

The commission voted unanimously to deny the project set forward by Paragon Associates after a nearly four-hour discussion in which several residents living near the airport and a handful of contractors brought forward questions and concerns about noise, odor, traffic, neighborhood safety, air quality and project viability.

Paragon proposed to remove 1 million cubic yards of material from a hill north of the current runway. The project would benefit airport operators who need the hill removed to comply with federal regulations and build a new runway in its path.

The runway would allow larger aircraft to land safely and allow the airport to install the latest equipment for instrument landings. The cost to remove the hill is an obstacle to complete the runway project, airport officials say.

Using land owned by John Serpa, Paragon planned to build a concrete and asphalt batch plant and a rock-crushing operation temporarily to supply the state freeway project. However, several contractors at Wednesday's meeting said they were already written into a bid awarded by the state to AMES Construction of Utah to supply concrete and asphalt for the project.

Frehner Construction plans to have its contract signed in the next week to provide asphalt from Mound House, contractor Mike Etchelecu said. The testimony made commissioners wonder about the viability of the project, which Paragon representatives failed to answer to the satisfaction of the commission.

The company also mentioned importing large amounts of materials from the Highway 395 project to place and process on site, an addition to the plan that commissioners had trouble understanding.

Paragon representative Greg Evangelatos was given the option to come back to the commission in 60 days to have his plan reconsidered. But he elected not to do so, and the commission voted to deny the project.

Commissioners said they wanted more details about the concrete and asphalt operation's location, road routes and a time line. Paragon can appeal the decision to the city's Board of Supervisors for reconsideration.

The commission lauded the public for participating in Wednesday's decision.

"This is the best group of people to ever show up," Kimbrough said. "It's helped me make my decision better."