Despite a large and vocal opposition, the Roanoke County Planning Commission voted Tuesday night to recommend a rezoning and special-use permit to allow the construction of an asphalt plant in Glenvar.

On a 3-1 vote, the commission sent the plan by Adams Construction Co. to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation.

An overflow crowd of about 300 people showed up at the county administration center for the five-hour meeting that ended at midnight. About 45 spoke on the controversial proposal, almost all against it.

Speakers repeatedly cited what they believe are potential health hazards from the plant, and protested its proximity to the Glenvar school complex and the nearby residential neighborhoods where they live.

They also raised concerns about noise, dust, traffic and odors.

In the end, however, only Catawba District representative Martha Hooker, the commission chairwoman, voted to recommend against the proposal. The plant would be in her district.

The panel made its decision with only four of its five members present. David Radford recused himself because he was recently employed by English Construction Co., a Lynchburg company that has joint owners with Adams Construction.

Despite often tearful pleas from nearby residents to oppose the proposed plant, commissioners Rodney McNeil, Steve Azar and Gary Jarrell said they believed it was suitable for the site on West Main Street, which is near other industrial and commercial uses and is designated as "principal industrial" in the county's future land-use plan.

The final decision on whether to rezone the property and issue a special-use permit for an asphalt plant now lies with the supervisors.

That board, which is not bound by the planning commission's advisory recommendation, is tentatively scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on the matter at a 7 p.m. meeting on Feb. 24. That meeting will be held at the administration center.

Two of the board's five members, Catawba Supervisor Butch Church and Cave Spring Supervisor Charlotte Moore, have already stated opposition to the Glenvar plant.

Adams, based in Roanoke, owns 22 asphalt processing facilities in Virginia and North Carolina. It proposes building a plant that can produce up to 300 tons of asphalt an hour at the site of the former Salem water filtration plant.

Before it can seek a permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, it must have local zoning approval for the plant.

Despite reassurances from an air quality expert hired by the company that the plant will not pollute the air, many speakers were not convinced.

"In my opinion, you will not be able to stop all the toxins from being released in the air," said Dawn Smith. "Their own chemist says there is no way to get to zero."

She said she was particularly offended that the county's zoning ordinance does not prohibit such businesses near schools.

Matt Garr, another nearby resident, told the commissioners, "I encourage you when you walk out of this room to begin looking at that" question of the plant's proximity to the schools. He said he didn't think Adams "is deliberately trying to hurt us, but this is totally incongruous."

The project did get some support. Several nearby business owners praised Adams' corporate citizenship, and Ernest Sweetenburg, who has lived across the street from another Adams-owned asphalt plant for 41 years, said "they have been great neighbors."

Still, Mark Wilson received applause when he said that as a business owner he has had to apply for rezonings that weren't popular with the neighbors. But, he said, "If I had this much opposition to my request, I would have politely removed it."