DETROIT (WXYZ) — Residents who live in Detroit’s Cadillac Heights neighborhood are urging city officials to do something about the concrete mixing plant that’s next to their neighborhood.
“Quality of life in this neighborhood has plummeted since this opened,” Matthew Tomasz said.
Tomasz lives across the street from the concrete mixing plant, which sits on E. Road McNichols near Conant.
He says the trucks from the plant are noisy and the plant produces a lot of dust.
“When the dust picks up, it coats everything with dust, so I haven’t been able to open my windows because of this,” Tomasz said. “I won’t have my kid outside at all. Also I can’t have any friends over… no BBQ’s, no eating on the front porch anymore.”
Residents who live in the area have voiced their concerns about the concrete plant since it opened a few years ago.
Tomasz and other residents recently spoke out at a Detroit City Council meeting on Tuesday as there is talk of expanding the concrete plant.
Rev. Sharon Buttry was at the meeting. She is with the Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments. Rev. Sharon Buttry with the Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments talks about neighborhood concerns
“We got involved here because some of the neighbors came to our coalition and said we need help organizing, we need help putting pressure on the city… we’ve complained about the dust and noise and nothing has happened,” Buttry said.
Watch our full interview with Rev. Sharon Buttry in the video player below:
Detroit City Councilman Scott Benson says his team has been working on an ordinance that would get rid of industrial zones near residential areas.
“We’re looking at how we can best implement health and public safety for our residents within our neighborhoods that are historic but unfortunately, planning from 50, 60 years ago had this as an area where heavy industrial budded residential,” Benson said.
Benson says the concrete plant has a right to operate in the area but his proposed ordinance could impact the plant from expanding further into neighborhood.
The plant is ran by Crown Enterprises, which is owned the Moroun family. We reached out to Crown Enterprises, but we haven't heard back yet.
Meanwhile for Tomasz, he says he and his family may leave from their home if something isn’t done about the plant.
“What they’re doing is they’re creating blight in what should be a neighborhood that’s up and coming,” Tomasz said.
