Elk Grove planners pave way for 24

An Alabama-based construction materials firm could open a new Elk Grove plant as early as next year, city officials said this week, after city planners gave early approvals for the project.

Elk Grove approved a conditional use permit and plans for Vulcan Materials to build a 24-acre asphalt and concrete production plant at 10000 Waterman Road. The Birmingham-based firm, a major producer of hot-mix asphalt and ready-mixed concrete, is also the nation’s largest supplier of construction aggregates including crushed stone, sand and gravel.

The site, 2 miles east of Highway 99, would be built on undeveloped zoned heavy industrial and would also serve as a recycling center for asphalt and concrete debris from local demolition projects and office buildings, city officials said. Planners in late July described the types of equipment operating on the site from conveyors, grinders and hoppers to carry and remove recycled materials to silos upward of 78 feet at the plant’s truck loading facility.

Because the site is zoned heavy industrial, the silos’ nearly eight-story height is within city zoning parameters, planners said. The structures will be set more than 500 feet from homes, officials said at the city planning commission’s July 20 meeting.

All buildings on site would be below the city’s 80-foot height threshold. planners said at the July meeting.

Elk Grove officials say Vulcan Materials was attracted to the site’s proximity to Highway 99 and development growth areas. Vulcan first filed applications for the conditional use permit in January 2021, city records show.

Much development is planned or ongoing along Elk Grove’s southern edge including the Capital SouthEast Connector freeway project linking Highway 50 to Interstate 5 along a widened Grant Line and Kammerer roads; and a relocated Sacramento Zoo envisioned a short distance to the west near Big Horn Boulevard and Kammerer Road.

On Grant Line Road directly south of the planned Vulcan site, tractor giant Kubota continues work on its new 630,000 square-foot Elk Grove regional headquarters and distribution hub.