Naked City

As the chairman of the Buda Chamber of Commerce, Dick Schneider doesn't usually find himself on the opposing end of business. But Schneider is leading a fight against one local company's effort to establish a rock-crushing quarry and asphalt production plant over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and adjacent to a high-end subdivision in northern Hays Co.

KBDJ LP (Industrial Asphalt of Buda) is seeking an air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to build a 24-hour operation west of Buda along FM 967 -- literally in the back yards of about 2 dozen homes in Ruby Ranch, a Hill Country subdivision with free-roaming exotic animals and large-lot homes that range in value between $300,000 and $1 million. Schneider lives in Ruby Ranch, where he now heads a newly formed neighborhood group called NOPE -- Neighbors Organized to Protect the Environment.

Residents plan to address the issue at tonight's (Thursday) board meeting of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District. Though the asphalt company is not seeking a water-pumping permit from the board, NOPE members want the BSEACD to join them in their opposition. The meeting is at 6pm at 1124 Regal Row, off Manchaca Road.

"We're not opposed to [KBDJ] doing business," Schneider said, "but we are opposed to them doing business directly adjacent to a subdivision, right on top of the recharge zone. We're not only talking about air pollution, we're talking about water and noise and traffic." Chronicle phone calls to KBDJ were not returned.

Residents have requested a public hearing with the state agency handling the permit application, filed July 3. State Rep. Patrick Rose, whose Dist. 45 includes Hays Co., has also asked the TCEQ to schedule a hearing on the application. Homeowner John Sikoski, whose property would border the proposed operation, wonders how the state can allow a rock-crushing application on top of the aquifer and about a quarter of a mile from Onion Creek. "The aquifer is the reason I just paid an extra $5,000 on my septic system," he said.