{"id":312338,"date":"2026-10-23T00:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T00:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/312338\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T00:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T00:58:10","slug":"asphalt-plant-proposed-in-east-huntingdon-township-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/312338\/","title":{"rendered":"Asphalt plant proposed in East Huntingdon Township, Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ed<\/a>EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n

Residents in East Huntingdon Township continue to make their frustration heard regarding a project in their backyard. <\/p>\n

Sandhill Materials is supposed to build an asphalt plant near Route 119. The land the proposed plant would sit on is already being developed. <\/p>\n

On Thursday morning, the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Authority noted public comments about the project. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredibly disheartening that this was done under the radar,\u201d said Sarah Kern, of Mount Pleasant Township. \u201cThe community didn\u2019t know about it until they were already clearing land. Why doesn\u2019t the community\u2019s opinion matter more?\u201d<\/p>\n

The development of the property along Sand Hill Road has been going on for nearly a month. While that\u2019s been going on, those who live in the area have been bringing up several concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s concerning is the amount of traffic we\u2019re already experiencing,\u201d Kern said. \u201cThere are no longitudinal studies that show how this might impact our health, our kids’ health, and the local farmlands. If it smells terrible, nobody\u2019s going to want to buy that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emissions, the dust, the noise, the impact on wildlife and the impact on our kids. I\u2019m a teacher,\u201d said Becca Huff, who lives close to the site. \u201cWe had to say something to someone. It\u2019s just not fair that none of the community voices were considered in making this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n

The development authority originally was slated to gift a $10 million tax bond for the project but halted it after the public outcry. <\/p>\n

The bond is normally used for projects with economic upside.<\/p>\n

However, farmers in the area, like Sandhill Berries owners Richard and Susan Lynn, don\u2019t see it that way. <\/p>\n

\u201cWithin weeks, we were getting debris over our plants and the farm itself,\u201d Richard Lynn said. \u201cOur property goes within 50 feet of [the site]. It\u2019s directly adjacent to it. When they were talking about schools, they are in the direct flow of the wind from that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know what could possibly happen to our harvest because we don\u2019t have any data,\u201d Susan Lynn said. \u201cWe have devoted our lives to protecting this piece of ground and improving it. That possibility of its future continuance is really put into question with having this plant. It\u2019s not enough to just say, ‘Oh, it\u2019s a state-of-the-art plant. It\u2019ll be great.'”<\/p>\n

Sandhill Materials is in the process of gaining project approval from the Department of Environmental Protection. Residents believe one reason the site is being prepared without notice is the lack of local zoning laws in East Huntingdon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly why zoning exists,\u201d Richard said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t exist here, to the level of other places; we\u2019re taken advantage of. These companies can come in and sort of avoid the zoning restrictions that they may have in other places.\u201d <\/p>\n

While county officials said not much can stop the project\u2019s construction at this point, those in the community are holding out hope. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us are here as a united community to say we bought our homes here, we raised our families here, we laid our roots here, and none of us chose this life,\u201d Huff said. \u201cWhy are you imposing it on us?\u201d<\/p>\n

Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 Residents in East Huntingdon Township continue to make their frustration heard regarding a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[127691,127690,28,30,29,5910],"class_list":["post-312338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-asphalt-plant","tag-east-huntingdon-township","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-westmoreland-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}