Permit on hold in Murray after citizen concern
Sep 9, 2023, 8:00 AM | Updated: 11:56 am
Map image of the area in Murray where a cement company is applying for a conditional use permit. Hundreds of people have contacted Murray officials with environmental concerns. (Murray City Planning Commission)
(Murray City Planning Commission)
MURRAY, Utah — The Murray City Planning Commission has placed a hold on a conditional use permit sought by Legacy Materials, after reportedly receiving hundreds of emails from concerned citizens.
At the end of its meeting on Sept. 7, the Murray City Planning Commissioners agreed that they hadn’t fully reviewed all of the emailed public comments. The commission held off on a decision and continued the permit request until Sept. 21, 2023.
The background and the citizen concern
Legacy Materials applied for a permit to build a cement pouring facility in an empty lot at 4300 South Commerce Drive, in Murray. The company builds blocks that are used for retaining walls.
The company assures that it works with liquid cement and that its raw materials are kept in vacuum-sealed containers. Still, at the meeting, about a dozen people said Murray City isn’t doing enough to make sure that the materials will not be a health risk, namely to employees of the nearby Humane Society of Utah.
The President of the Humane Society’s Board of Directors, Craig Cook, has said he questions the safety of cement dust.
“Cement dust is very caustic. It has many chemical components in it and it can seriously affect the health of people over a prolonged period of time, like our 114 employees,” he said.
Legacy Materials says concerns are unfounded
Legacy Materials Partner Lane Myers, said these concerns are unfounded.
“They all said the same thing, and kept quoting all these harmful elements of a business that’s not ours,” Myers said. “They claim that we got dry cement floating around. We don’t. We pour wet cement into molds.”
This week a spokesperson for the city said the planning commission has laid out several conditions for Legacy Materials to meet. And that, just like with any business, the city can’t turn them down if they’re compliant.
The Murray City Planning Commission will reconvene on Sept. 21 for further discussion.
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