NIMBY, or “not in my back yard,” is a term for anyone not wanting something near their home, but who want to use its services. Several new truck stops are going through the permitting process currently and some residents are fighting to stop them from being built.
Every reason under the sun given to forbade construction
Expect to see this in many local newspapers whenever the truck parking infrastructure plan begins. There are stories out of at least four states where local residents are fighting tooth and nail to prevent truck stops from being built.
Crime, trash, drugs, prositution, pollution of every variety, and more excuses are being made for reasons to turn down permits. Now be aware, these people “love truckers,” but do not want them to stay in town. Just drop off our basic necessities and impulse purchases, then leave!
Chicopee, Massachusetts, a suburb of Springfield, is going through the paces with a new truck stop planned next to the existing Pride Truck Stop. A group of residents are fighting back, asking why put the truck stop directly next to the other.
Many question if diesel exhaust fumes would impact a nearby nursing home (which already has to contend with odors from a nearby garbage dump). Also complaints of crime and air pollution are pushing residents to fill the city hall when voting on the above ground tank permits are held.
Love’s Travel Stops is busy getting permits for a new truck stop in Ramsay, Montana. Ramsay is a small, isolated village to the west of the I-90/I-15 interchange outside Butte, Montana. The reason it is separated from the city is because of the history it has with the Dupont Company.
Dupont built the factory town in 1916 to manufacture dynamite. Vast amounts of dynamite were needed to mine the copper ore from nearby Butte. The workers at the Dupont plant in Ramsay were able to produce 750,000 pounds of dynamite per month when the factory was working full-time.
Ramsay now faces another explosive situation as residents are fuming over the Love’s Travel Stop expansion. Townspeople plan to rally in late August, close to the date when permits for underground storage tanks are to be considered.
Who would think New York and Texas would be on the same page?
Next on our trip through NIMBY-land is Tully, New York, a small town about half an hour south of Syracuse. The town has risen up against plans for a Mirabito gas station and truck stop on a piece of land the property owner wants rezoned from residential to commercial.
Home owners made complaints about lowered property values, child safety, and accident rates, and environmental impacts when confronting the zoning commission. The commission decided against recommending the site for rezoning, but the decision was shunted to the town’s board of commissioners.
Wylie, Texas is the last stop on this trip, as it faces another NIMBY movement. This time, a petition is being filed to protest a new truck stop in the town. Again, crime and pollution are being cited as reasons not to grant a permit.
The build site is next to the water treatment plant for Wylie and the surrounding area. Residents are afraid of having their water supply, and the nearby lake, contaminated by oil and other runoff.
With all the news going out about how truckers lack safe places to park their trucks, residents are making it extremely difficult to build new parking spots. The nation is short hundreds of thousands of parking spots – needed to handle the current national trucking fleet. Some form of compromise is desperately needed.
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