Roger Shilling, owner of Shilling Electric, wants the city to grant a special use permit for a concrete plant on property he owns southeast of S & S Body Shop, 922 E. Fourth.

The Tonganoxie Planning Commission will consider the request at its meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at council chambers. The city’s planner said she would recommend to the planning commission that the proposal be tabled until the city receives a more specific proposal from Shilling.

This request for a concrete plant is the third in a series of attempts to build a plant in Tonganoxie.

Meier Ready Mix, Topeka, had tried to construct a plant first at the intersection of Leavenworth County Road 5 and Laming Road, and later just south of U.S. 24-40 Highway, on the west side of Leavenworth County Road 5. Both times, the city’s planning commission rejected Meier’s proposals.

Now, Shilling hopes he can bring Meier or, perhaps, another concrete firm to town.

He said a concrete firm was at that site for about 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s.

“We had a special use permit at that time,” Shilling said. “If it was fine back then as a concrete plant, why can’t it be fine now as a concrete plant.”

He said utilities are available at the site, and the tract is shielded from view.

“It’s hidden,” he said. “It will be out of sight.”

Larry Shepek, chairman of the planning commission, said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of Shilling’s plans. However, he thinks a concrete plant is appropriate for Tonganoxie.

“I believe it would be beneficial for the builders, as well as the developers,” Shepek said. “If it increases our tax base, it would be good.”

City planner Linda Zacher said she’s unsure about the Shilling site because she hasn’t seen a detailed proposal.

“I’m not at all in favor of it,” she said.

“I don’t really see it as a favorable use in the downtown area. It may have been at one time when there were other industrial uses in the area, but now I don’t see this area as being an industrial area.”

The land, however, is zoned for industrial use.

One of Zacher’s concerns is what routes concrete trucks would travel between the plant and job sites.

Zacher said she’s not certain the planning commission would be able to act on Shilling’s request tonight because of the lack of specifics in his proposal.

“A special use permit is very site-specific,” she said.

“His plans don’t show structures. It would be well-screened and hidden from view, if they didn’t cut down all of the trees to put it in, and depending on the type of structure. We don’t know what they’re planning.”