A revised plan for a new asphalt plant in western Roanoke County seems to be generating far less controversy than the original proposal put forward in January.

About 60 people showed up at Glenvar Middle School on Tuesday night as Adams Construction Co. showed drawings and aerial photographs of its latest proposed site.

It is a remote 17-acre parcel off Peaceful Road near the Western Virginia Regional Jail and the Montgomery County line.

The site is surrounded primarily by forested land owned by Appalachian Power Co. and is part of a larger parcel the electric company will retain.

Initially, Adams proposed building the plant on the site of the former Salem water treatment plant, which was within sight of the Glenvar school complex, as well as residential and commercial districts.

A February public meeting on that plan drew a crowd of more than 200, many of them opponents and a few supporters.

The company took its proposal to the planning commission later that month and won its backing for a rezoning and special-use permit on a 3-1 vote. Two of the five members of the board of supervisors, which makes the final decision, spoke out against the plan before it came up for formal consideration before the board.

Consequently, a week before the company was scheduled for a public hearing before the supervisors, it announced it was withdrawing its request while it sought a new site.

Adams Executive Vice President Rick James said Tuesday he believes the new location satisfies what the company saw as the primary objections raised about the previous site.

It is more remote, farther from the school, on the opposite side of U.S. 11/460 and already zoned for heavy industrial use. Almost 40 percent of the 17 acres is devoted to buffering the plant from adjacent property, James said, and only 7 acres will actually be devoted to the asphalt operation.

James and others reiterated their contention that modern asphalt plants are safe, quiet and don't produce harmful emissions. He said truck traffic on the mile-long trip to Interstate 81 will not pass any residential areas.

Although there were a few questions about noise, lighting, emissions and pollutants, the interactions were calm, and some in the crowd even applauded when the presentation ended.

The proposal now goes before the planning commission for a public hearing on a special-use permit, required for asphalt plants, and vote on Nov. 2 -- a special Monday meeting to avoid conflicting with Election Day. If action is taken then, the board of supervisors will hold another public hearing and vote on Nov. 17, the board's only meeting date that month.