In a win for residents, a concrete company will end its efforts to gain an environmental permit to build a concrete mixing plant in northwest Houston neighborhood — just one day before an administrative judge was set to hear arguments from the community against the plant.

Soto Ready Mix, a small Houston company, had planned to build the plant near homes and a park in Acres Homes, a historically black neighborhood. On Wednesday, however, the company’s lawyers filed a motion with the administrative judge to send the case back to the state’s environmental agency, so that the company could withdraw its application to build the plant.

Soto Ready Mix sought an air emissions permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental agency, to build a batch plant, where concrete is mixed. For nearly two years, residents fought the permit for the plant, which they said would release particulates harmful to human health into the air. The prospect of a concrete plant in the neighborhood had already hurt property values, residents said.

TCEQ granted a hearing to the residents, allowing them to argue their case before a state administrative judge. That hearing, scheduled for Thursday, was canceled.

The permit had become a test of the environmental permitting process in the state for advocates. Often, communities are unaware or unable to amass the resources needed to stop a company from obtaining one of the state’s environmental permits.

But in Acres Homes, residents have engaged in the permitting process, tirelessly rallying politicians and pressuring regulators to host several public meetings.

“I’m overjoyed,” said Donna Williams, who lives next door to the proposed site and whose family has been fighting the batch plant for years. “I feel our prayers have been answered and that all of our efforts have not been in vain.”

Winning model

The success for Acres Homes could become a model for other communities confronting proposals to build concrete plants near their homes, environmental advocates said. Corey Williams, research and policy director at Air Alliance Houston, a nonprofit that opposed the Acres Home permit, estimated that more than 100 concrete batch plants operate in Houston.

“I think we found something that works,” he said. “We will organize around other facilities in a similar manner in the future. These facilities don’t belong in residential neighborhoods.”

On HoustonChronicle.com: One Houston neighborhood is fighting Texas’ air quality rules

Air Alliance Houston is following another concrete batch permit application in a largely Hispanic community in the Aldine area, Williams said. It has the potential to affect nearly twice as many residential properties as the proposed Soto Ready Mix plant in Acres Homes.

The proposed Soto Ready Mix plant would have been notably close to many homes as well as daycare facilities, parks and churches. Building such plants in Houston exists in a blind spot between state and local laws.

TCEQ only has jurisdiction over emissions from the plant, not where it is sited. That’s not a problem in many communities, where zoning laws prohibit industry from locating so close to residences.

Houston, however, doesn’t have zoning laws. Over the last five years, TCEQ received more than 100 requests for concrete batch plant air emissions permits in Houston, according to the agency. Only two were denied.

“It's fantastic news for the community,” said Collin Cox, an attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid working on behalf of one resident of Acres Homes. “These things are almost never defeated. The way the law is written, it is next to impossible to stop them.”

More to be done

Public pressure to block the plant steadily escalated over the last year. Earlier this month, Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke out against the project at a news conference. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), state Rep. Jarvis Johnson (D-Houston) and state Sen. John Whitmire, (D-Houston), spoke at TCEQ meetings and hosted town halls on the issue.

In the letter to regulators, Birch, Becker & Moorman, the law firm representing Armando Soto, the owner of the business, wrote that Soto had determined, based on conversations with “interested persons” this week, that moving forward with the permit was not in the company’s best interest. Neither Soto nor his attorney responded to requests for comment Wednesday.

Johnson, who spoke with Soto Wednesday, and Whitmire said their offices will continue to negotiate with the company, and work with it to find a location that is more suitable for a concrete plant. Whitmire said convincing the TCEQ to refer the issue to a state hearing was a major step in applying pressure.

“You don't win at the TCEQ often, because the law favors business,” Whitmire said. “I'm glad the people won one today. We need more wins like this.”

Johnson called the withdrawal of the permit application a victory for the community. But he said more needs to be done — namely, passing legislation that would prohibit concrete batch plants from operating in residential neighborhoods.

“Unfortunately,” Johnson said, “Soto Ready Mix Inc. is not the only concrete batch plant aiming to operate in residential neighborhoods in Houston.”

erin.douglas@chron.com

Twitter.com/erinmdouglas23