WITTMANN, AZ — Dozens of residents from Wittmann and surrounding communities packed a meeting Tuesday night to hear the latest plans by BNSF Railway for a massive hub in the desert.
BNSF Railway Co. has applied for a re-zoning request with Maricopa County to move forward with a full intermodal facility, logistics park and center on more than 4,000 acres next to US 60.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors plans to vote on the re-zoning request in August.
In the meantime, community members are bringing numerous concerns, like traffic, noise, and water use, forward.
“We live right next to where a lot of these rail cars are going to be going in and out of the facility and the semi traffic,” resident Laura Deaver said. “It makes it unbearable for a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year project.”
The area is home to dozens of established ranches and residential properties.
“It’s going to affect residents not only locally, those in the Sun City, Sun City West, Phoenix,” resident Kirby Anderson said. “Nobody in this area is opposed to change. What we’re opposed to is an industrial facility.”
The company said the project will bring more than 70,000 direct and indirect jobs to the region while boosting economic opportunities through rail.
“To help move goods that the nation and the state of Arizona depends on day in and day out,” said BNSF General Director of Public Affairs Lena Kent.
Kent said the company has taken steps to address concerns, like planning to add a 400-foot buffer with a berm, as well as studying road use and groundwater levels in the area.
“I hope that people walk away tonight and feel that they’ve been heard because we’ve definitely been listening and we’ve incorporated a lot of their concerns,” Kent said.
Kyle Cooper, with BNSF, said the company reduced access points to the project to reduce traffic south of the project.
“It’s not BNSF bringing additional trains, it’s BNSF offering a transportation solution, and the most efficient for the growth that’s already coming,” Cooper said.
