NAMPA, Idaho — This article originally appeared in The Idaho Press.
Concerned citizens have continued to pack Nampa City Hall, this time with dozens of residents coming to Monday’s Nampa City Council meeting.
Residents came in protest of a proposed concrete plant, off Victory Road, near the Happy Valley Road roundabout and across the street from nearby residential areas. The proposed plant has been part of an ongoing controversy since January, with community members expressing concerns regarding health, traffic and proximity to the Nampa Municipal Airport.
Construction company Sunroc, which wants to build the plant, is based out of Utah and has multiple facilities in Idaho.
Monday’s meeting came after the Nampa Planning and Zoning Commission narrowly denied Sunroc’s application for a second conditional use permit.
In Sunroc’s appeal, the company alleged that a permit approved by Planning & Zoning in February 2023 was unfairly revoked. Monday’s appeal only addressed this permit, not the second permit that Sunroc applied for in November 2023.
After comment from Sunroc attorney Craig Jenson on Monday evening, and a rebuttal from Planning & Zoning Director Rodney Ashby, Nampa council members denied Sunroc’s appeal in a unanimous vote.
Sunroc argued that the company should have had an opportunity to adjust plans to come into compliance with issues cited by Ashby.
“This is the authority given to me to revoke the CUP,” Ashby said.
The city met with Sunroc in November to determine whether the first CUP had expired, leading Sunroc to apply for the second CUP “out of an abundance of caution,” Sunroc representative Bill King previously said.
Ashby sent a revocation letter to Sunroc on Feb. 2 outlining issues that did not concern the possible expiration of the permit. Instead, Ashby alleged violations of the 2018 International Building Code which Nampa follows.
“The issue of expiration of the CUP appears to be moot,” Ashby wrote. “This letter is to provide you notice of the director’s determination that the above-referenced CUP … is hereby revoked.”
The letter claims that, in the summer of 2023, Sunroc proceeded to demolish structures and clear the property without a demolition permit. Ashby said this violates a “prescribed condition of approval” and cites this as reasoning for the CUP revocation.
On Dec. 5, Sunroc then applied for the demolition permit “for the work that had already been completed on the site,” the Feb. 2 revocation letter said.
Ashby said that the failure to obtain the demolition permit before doing work on-site was a violation of one of the CUP’s prescribed conditions for approval and cited this as reasoning for the CUP’s revocation.
Sunroc submitted an appeal to Nampa City Council on Feb. 15, resulting in Monday’s meeting.
Sunroc’s appeal voiced concerns that Planning & Zoning’s revocation of the permit came several months after the project was approved, calling the decision “arbitrary and capricious.” The appeal goes on to claim that the revocation goes against city code.
“The revocation was wrong, it was too confined to a singular code provision and wasn't taking into account the entire code,” Jenson said at Monday’s meeting.
Councilmember David Bills took issue with Sunroc’s argument that city code wasn’t followed as well as the idea that the construction company should be given a chance to come to compliance despite violating the conditions of the CUP.
“Under that logic, any builder can start his project and then wait to be told, ‘hey, you've got to apply for a permit,’ and then he could continue on his project,” Bills said.
Coming to a unanimous decision, the council voted against Sunroc’s appeal.
“We will continue our efforts to help build the community of Nampa,” Nate McDonald, Sunroc relations director, said in a written statement following the decision. “Every home, road, and building needs affordable concrete. That means we will continue to pursue every possible option.”
Looking forward, Sunroc has the opportunity to appeal its most recent CUP which was denied in February by the Planning & Zoning Commission. This is the same CUP the company applied for in November following concerns of expiration.
“The record reflected that the CUP had expired, and your team subsequently filed for a new CUP which is being processed now awaiting its next public hearing,” Ashby wrote in the Feb. 2 revocation. “This letter does not alter or impact that process.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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