Dougherty County Officials Woo Spurned Lee County Concrete Plant
Thursday, April 24th, 2014
Lee County’s loss could quite possibly turn out to be Dougherty County’s gain.
Lee County businessman Bryan Bridges told The Albany Herald Wednesday morning that he has had discussions with a number of Dougherty County officials encouraging him to bring his planned Redi-Mix concrete plant to the county after Bridges’ rezoning request was tabled by the Lee County Commission at its Tuesday-night meeting. And Bridges said he’s seriously considering the invitation.
“I’m close, very close to making a decision,” Bridges, owner of the Lee County-based Bridges Backhoe Services and Small Cakes, a Cupcakery in Albany, said. “I’ve got six semi trucks loaded with the materials for the concrete plant in Charleston, South Carolina, and every hour they sit waiting is costing me money.
“(Lee County officials) have told me I could build the concrete plant, but they would not approve the rezoning request until I had a clean air certificate from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). But the EPA will not give me a certificate until the land has been rezoned for heavy industrial (I-2, from its current AG, agriculture). Basically, I’m being told to go ahead and build a $600,000 plant, and if I get the approval after it’s build, I can move forward. That’s too big a business risk. I’m in a ‘Catch-22’ situation.”
