Today was not a good day.
This morning I received some information about the 17-acre contaminated site at Mackay Road and Gate City Blvd. – a site that got approved for redevelopment by the NC Brownfields Division of DEQ: a concrete/cement plant with a railroad/trucking distribution facility and storage silos on 18 acres at Mackay Road and Gate City Blvd.
I first found out about this project last year when I was running for mayor. I thought it was a misprint in the public records and made a note to ask about it as soon as I took office. The town manager told me it wasn’t open for discussion, as I told YES Weekly back in April.
After receiving photos and inquiries from a citizen who was concerned about activity on the site, I reached out to the NC Brownfields Division of the Department of Environmental Quality.
Soon after, I received a letter from the concrete company’s attorney stating, “We have had numerous discussions and meetings with the Town regarding our plans for the Property and are appreciative of the relationships grown to date and were taken by surprise to hear these inquiries from NCDEQ, rather than the Town directly.”
I responded to the Silvi attorney that “I, too, was taken by surprise – to learn of the ‘relationships grown to date’ between Silvi Concrete and the Town of Jamestown. Until I received your letter, I was completely unaware there had been any ‘discussions and meetings with the Town’ regarding your plans for the Property.”
Last week, I found out (via a search in the state public records database) that construction of the concrete plant is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
The town manager and planning director have yet to share any information about the project with us – a project that will have a tremendous impact on roads, noise, air, traffic and quality of life.
So I asked again:
This morning I received some of the information I requested – a string of emails dating back to September 2024 between planning director Jose Colon, town manager Matthew Johnson, and attorney Amanda Hodierne.
If the name sounds familiar, Amanda Hodierne not only represents the concrete plant, she is a partner in Marc Isaacson’s law firm (who represented D.R. Horton in their 1,500-unit Jamestown development deal), and she is currently representing a developer who is involved in a legal action with the Town of Jamestown concerning a denied zoning amendment):
In February 2025, at the same time she was representing the concrete company, Hodierne was also giving direction and letter-writing verbiage to Jamestown’s planning director:
Read more about the Silvi Concrete/Construction company HERE – and note the complaint filed against Silvi in Apex NC last month over concerns about impacts to public streets from the heavy trucks coming on and off the site, and “sand, aggregates and concrete deposits” ins the sewer/stormwater system and a nearby stream.
I had barely finished reading this first batch of Hodierne/Silvi documents when a Planning Board notice for next Wednesday’s Board of Adjustment meeting popped up. This meeting concerns a parking lot that’s proposed for a Brownfield site down the street from the Silvi site.
It’s located next to Panda Express (where that giant dirt pile used to be).
The Planning Board’s notice, however, specifies a different “purpose” than a Panda Express parking lot.
The itty-bitty, teeny tiny print on the application says a bank is proposed for the site. If the notice had said “bank” in the first place, I probably wouldn’t have paid as much attention. But advertising it as a hearing for a fast-food parking lot expansion, and then “shrinking” the fact that it’s for a bank, is hard to ignore:
I don’t know what is going on here.
But, as luck would have it, another little bomb dropped in my Facebook feed this afternoon. And it explains a lot.
Thank you Robert Frederick, for doing the research, legwork and investigative reporting that our town needs.
CLICK TO READ his report, then come to the council meetings and planning board meetings, stay informed, get involved, and share your comments with the planning board and council members.
