OTTAWA — A Topeka asphalt company seeks to build an asphalt and concrete plant at the eastern edge of Ottawa. Bettis Asphalt and Concrete seeks to rezone nearly 13 acres southwest of the I-35 and 15th Street interchange to I-2, which is a heavy industrial category, and a special use permit for the proposed plant. The site is sandwiched between I-35 and the P.A. Paul truck-trailer leasing lot and is across the street from a quarry, which is also zoned I-2. Bettis doesn’t own the site but would buy the site if the rezoning and special use permit is approved. In a filing with the Franklin County planning department, Bettis said the company has received paving contracts in Franklin County. In addition, the company “has had multiple inquiries and requests from local contractors and businesses in the surrounding areas regarding the need for high quality and affordable asphalt.” An asphalt plant was previously at the site, the company said. The company uses a process that would contain almost all of the dust and soot inside the site, said Cole Andersen, Bettis environmental, health and safety manager. No office would be at the site. Besides the plant, there wouild be stockpiled materials such as sand, recycled asphalt millings and liquid asphalt to produce hot-mix asphalt. The county planning commission has scheduled a public hearing for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 15 in the commission meeting room at the county annex in Ottawa. The planners’ recommendation would then go to the county commission.
The company said it has plants at Topeka, Tecumseh, Leavenworth, Emporia and Piedmont in south central Kansas. Two years ago, Bettis withdrew an application for a plant just outside Edgerton in southwestern Johnson County in the face of fierce public opposition.
Monday, Dec. 5, 6 a.m.
