Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Members of Citizens for Positive Growth demonstrate Friday near the site of a proposed asphalt plant in the Glenvar area of Roanoke County. Adams Construction Co. wants to build the plant, but many residents have voiced opposition to the proposal at public meetings.

Judy Conyers of Citizens for Positive Growth urged opponents of a proposed asphalt plant in Glenvar to stand firm. She said the group would organize forces that oppose the facility, which is near the Glenvar school complex.

Judy Conyers of Citizens for Positive Growth urged opponents of a proposed asphalt plant in Glenvar to stand firm. She said the group would organize forces that oppose the facility, which is near the Glenvar school complex.

A public hearing on a hotly contested proposal to build an asphalt plant in the Glenvar community has been pushed back to late April.

Adams Construction Co. sent a letter to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on Friday saying it was seeking an "administrative continuance" of the hearing, as allowed by law.

The hearing originally was scheduled for March 24. The company asked the board to delay that until the night of April 28.

The company is seeking to rezone the old Salem water treatment plant site on U.S. 11/460 in Glenvar for heavy industrial use, and to obtain a special-use permit to construct the asphalt plant.

Some experts Adams hired to help make its case will be unable to attend the March meeting, the company said, but will be available in April.

"Given the amount of misinformation and misperceptions about the impacts of the proposed project, it is important that these experts are available to the board as you consider this matter," the letter said.

The letter also said that "we intend to use the time between now and April 28 to re-evaluate the sites that were previously considered as well as other possible sites in the western portion of the county."

The company said residents have offered to assist in that effort, and "we plan to take them up on that offer."

Coincidentally, a newly formed nonprofit group, Citizens for Positive Growth, held a news conference at noon Friday to announce its goals in fighting the placement of the plant.

Standing along a fence bordering the proposed site, the group's spokeswoman, Judy Conyers, urged opponents not to let up in their drive to block the plant simply because the hearing has been delayed.

She said the additional time should be helpful to her group as it marshals facts and forces to oppose the rezoning and spreads the word about its concerns.

The organization has formed committees to collect information to make a series of arguments against the proposal at the public hearing.

Echoing concerns that have been raised at a series of public meetings on the proposal, the group issued a fact sheet asserting that asphalt and asphalt plants emit toxic pollutants, and that state and federal agencies don't regulate them as closely as some people believe.

The group also argues such a plant shouldn't be located anywhere near schools, nursing homes or residences. The proposed site is across Interstate 81 from the Glenvar school complex, but is only 500 feet from its property line, the group said.

While Conyers expressed some suspicion that Adams' announcement might be a "smoke screen" to mask its intent to take the steam out of the opponents' drive, many of the 50 or so in attendance seemed pleased to hear the company's news.

The county planning commission recommended approval of the rezoning for the plant on a 3-1 vote at a meeting Feb. 4. More than 300 people attended the meeting, a wide majority in opposition to the request.