Some parents are pushing back against a concrete recycling center being proposed in McKinney.
Almost every afternoon, hundreds of young soccer players hit the fields at Fairview Soccer Park.
Samy Olali, a former member of the Kenyan national soccer team, says he developed the park more than a decade ago and has grown his Ayses Soccer Club to more than 500 members.
“This is my passion,” Olali said.
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But after 17 years, the club's future could be up in the air.
“It would crush me a lot,” Olali said.
The issue is a rock, concrete and construction material recycling center proposed for a 54-acre piece of land next to the soccer park on County Road 317, and the impact on kid's health that parents, like Andre Schuster say, would come with it.
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“We know that these cement factories, whether they be manufacturing or recycling, are a major source of dust pollution,” Schuster said. “It’s just such a terrible idea.”
At a McKinney planning and zoning meeting in August, a supporter said the recycling center would be an asset to the city. The motion to advance the matter to the McKinney City Council was approved unanimously.
The City of McKinney says the company proposing the recycling center recently added cedar trees and a berm along its border with the soccer park.
In an email, the city said, in part:
“While the area around the subject property is largely undeveloped and/or rural in nature (including the soccer fields), the city’s Comprehensive Plan designates this entire area as largely industrial in nature, for which these types of uses are typical. This industrial vision has been designated on the city’s land use plans as far back as at least 1990.”
“My concern is that if something like that happens and we don't feel it’s safe, then we have to close the place because we cannot put families in danger,” Olali said.
Olali and members of his club plan to share their concerns with McKinney’s city council.
The matter is expected to be considered at Monday’s council meeting.
NBC 5 called and emailed the company behind the proposal but so far have not heard back.
