ANTHONY - A group of Anthony and Berino residents is upset about a recent land-use decision that would allow a meat processing plant to be built down the road from an elementary school in the area.
The plant - not to be mistaken for a slaughterhouse - would take raw meat and turn it into cooked, wholesale Mexican food products. The company, Productos Real, has proposed the facility for a parcel about 1,500 feet from Berino Elementary School, two miles north of Anthony.
Opponents say they're concerned about the possible odor and safety hazards from delivery truck traffic on Shrode Road, the street in front of the school.
But owners of the Vinton, Texas, company contend that there won't be a stench from the plant and that truck traffic won't occur around school hours.
"What if a big semi-truck is going through there, and a little kid runs into the street or something?" said Manny Garcia, who lives in the nearby colonia of Montana Vista. "There's a lot of concerns."
The Do?a Ana County Planning and Zoning Commission, in a 3-1 vote, OK'd a zoning request Oct. 8 to allow the new 8,957-square-foot plant. The approval would place the 5-acre parcel into a medium-intensity industrial designation. Now, it's essentially not zoned.
Productos Real now operates in a converted house in a residential neighborhood of Vinton. The company told the planning and zoning commission it's outgrowing the facility, the reason it's seeking a new location.
"We have limited capacity where we're at," said Maria Carmen Dominguez, an owner of Productos Real. "Basically, we have higher demand. Our sales have increased. We have new products being added, and we do plan on adding more products."
Dominguez said there shouldn't be a problem with truck traffic. Tractor-trailers would visit the plant up to five times a week, she said, but the deliveries can be scheduled around school hours. She said the company also runs two smaller delivery trucks, but those leave between 5 and 6:30 a.m. and return in the afternoon each day.
"We don't have a heavy traffic flow," she said.
Anthony resident Maria Elena Bejarano, an opponent, also said increased traffic past the school is one of her main worries.
"I have my granddaughter going to Berino school," she said. "She rides the buses. I see a potential negative impact it's going to have."
The company doesn't yet own the land, part of a larger, 118-acre lot, but plans to buy the 5-acre parcel should the zoning decision stand. Opponents may appeal the matter to the county commission.
Traffic would reach the plant by turning onto Shrode Road from Stern Drive, which parallels Interstate 10. But county officials said a project, scheduled to be finished in 2010, is planned to extend Shrode Road to N.M. Highway 478. Once that's done, trucks would access the plant from N.M. 478, a route that doesn't pass by the school.
When asked by a commissioner during the hearing, county planner Luis Marmolejo said the school hadn't been contacted about the matter.
A Gadsden Independent School District official referred questions to Superintendent Cynthia Nava, who couldn't be reached for comment.
Some Vinton residents who attended the land-use meeting expressed concern about odors that come from the plant in its existing location.
Garcia, too, said that's a worry for the proposed site.
Dominguez said odor problems at the Vinton location stem from the plant being so close to homes and the fact it doesn't have access to a sewer hook-up. That means waste must be shipped out, which leads to the smell. She said the new site is in a more-rural area and also would connect to wastewater lines, so odor shouldn't be a problem.
Marmolejo told commissioners the company's plans met county rules, including goals in the county's comprehensive land-use document. He recommended the commission approve the project, partly because "it's in the public interest because it will increase industry and jobs in the area."
"There is going to be an impact to the area, but the department feels the impact can be seen as minimal," he said. "We don't feel there's going to be a health, safety and welfare issue."
The company now employs 27 people. Dominguez said it's expected to add another 10 positions over the next two years, and in five years, may have as many as 50 positions.
Because the company plans to offer the jobs first to employees already working at the Vinton plant, opponents to the project have argued the Anthony/Berino facility would offer little economic benefit.
However, Dominguez said, it's likely not all current employees will opt to move to the new facility. And the company will create new positions eventually, as well.
Dominguez said her business scouted other possible sites, including one east of Anthony, N.M., but they fell through. She said she feels much of the concern over the new location is because residents don't actually understand her family's business. She said she's offered to allow them to tour the plant.
"They kind of have their assumptions based on what they've heard, and they never really taken the time to come in and look at what we're doing," she said. "The odors are, in our opinion, the only problem, which is something that will be solved if we move to this new location."
Garcia said the Anthony and Berino areas are already home to what he sees as negative types of industries. He said allowing Productos Real to open its plant wouldn't improve the situation. A better location would be one of the county's industrial parks, he said.
"I think they want to put it down here because nobody says nothing," he said.
Commission Chairman Brent Westmoreland, Commissioner Sandra Tatum and Commissioner Dick Salopek voted in favor of the zoning measure. Commissioner Natalie Mercado opposed it. Other commissioners were absent.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at
dalba@lcsun-news.com ; (575) 541-5443.
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