The City of Wright City and developers of a proposed asphalt plant have responded to a lawsuit filed in July seeking an injunction and declaratory judgment to prevent plans for the facility from moving forward.

Attorneys for the city filed an answer Aug. 27 to the petition filed July 10 on behalf of plaintiffs Larry and Vickie Zuhone, and on Aug. 28 filed a motion for expedited trial setting.

On Sept. 2, attorneys for Magruder Paving LLC and G&M Concrete & Asphalt Co. Inc., also named as defendants in the Zuhones’ suit, filed their own answer. Like the city’s answer, it denies a majority of the Zuhones’ allegations, while asserting that the companies lack knowledge or information sufficient to respond to others. It requests the court enter a judgment in their favor and dismiss the plaintiff’s petition with prejudice.

“Plaintiffs’ claims are barred, in whole or in part, because the site plan approved by the Wright City Board of Aldermen on June 11, 2026 was a proper and lawful exercise of the City’s authority under its Zoning Ordinance in that an asphalt plant is a permitted and lawful use within the M-1 zoning district,” the asphalt plant developers’ answer asserts.

Both Magruder Paving and G&M Concrete & Asphalt, along with Magruder Limestone Inc., are based at the same address in Troy and have a shared contact information page on the “Magruder Companies” website. 

Warren County Assessor’s Office records show G&M Concrete & Asphalt as owner of more than 50 acres of land in Wright City, while a statement issued following the Aug. 17 tabling of a proposed consolidation plat was issued in the name of Magruder Paving, with no mention of G&M Concrete & Asphalt.

Issues raised by the Zuhones’ petition “are presently affecting ongoing municipal administration of development-related matters concerning the subject property including subdivision and platting matters,” according to the city’s Aug. 28 motion.

In June, the Wright City Board of Aldermen approved an approximately eight-acre site plan for the Magruder asphalt plant. On Aug. 17, the Wright City Planning & Zoning Committee discussed a consolidation plat for all of Magruder’s property in Wright City, totaling approximately 58 acres, but that proposal was tabled following further discussion.

In their petition, the Zuhones argued that the “purported approval of the asphalt plant site plan is invalid” due to, among other reasons, the M-1 light industrial zoning of the site. They alleged that the plant would cause injury “by smell, traffic, and annoyance to the Zuhones and a decline in the fair market value of their property.”

While acknowledging that the site is zoned M-1, and that, as alleged in the Zuhones’ lawsuit, the city “did not hold a hearing with sworn testimony and a court reporter” prior to approving the site plan, the city’s answer denies most of the rest of the allegations in the Zuhones’ petition. It requests the court dismiss the petition and award the city attorneys’ fees.

The same day the city filed its answer to the Zuhone lawsuit, at a Wright City Board of Aldermen meeting, both city officials and members of the public commented on the controversy.

Resident Tony Beeny said that while Magruder’s asphalt plant site plan only covers eight acres, neighbors are worried that the company’’s plans for their additional Wright City property may involve a larger asphalt plant or related industrial facilities.

Mayor Michelle Heiliger said, however, that this was not necessarily the case.

“So the consolidation plan was requested because if they want to develop those front acres in the future, more than likely, what we’ve seen in the past is people don’t just develop one piece, they say ‘I want to break this up,’” she said.

“And so if we require the consolidation to one piece of property, then when they go to develop those front acres, we can help them decide how that will be split up. If you have three businesses that want to go in there, we only want one entrance,” Heiliger added.

“We don’t want to have a bunch of curb cuts on Roelker Road, where you’ve got a driveway, and then 10 feet, and then another driveway, and then 10 feet, and then another driveway. So the goal is to limit the number of curb cuts in any property along Roelker.”

Alderwoman Karey Owens said the current property lines of G&M Concrete & Asphalt’s six parcels in Wright City are “funky.”

The lots include two of approximately 12.76 acres each and four of approximately 8.2 acres each, all contiguous and zoned M-1 light industrial. The parcel that the asphalt plant site plan is approved for is located in an area with approximately the same east-west boundaries as Diekroger Park but located just a bit farther south past the railroad tracks.

“It looks like somebody threw chicken bones and then however it splattered, that’s what they decided the plat was going to be, like nothing really makes sense,” Owens said of the current property lines.

Heiliger added that having the G&M Concrete & Asphalt property consolidated will simplify things for everyone.

“It’s difficult for the city administratively, it’s difficult for the developer as well, so if we bring it into one piece of property and then as they develop it, then we redistribute that property into what we would call a subdivision, then it resets it in a better tone for the city to help them develop that in a way that also benefits us,” she said.

“It’s easier if it’s all one and then you can start cutting it up,” said Owens.

Speaking during public comment, resident Rita Key said once the asphalt plant is built, it could deter small businesses from opening in the neighborhood.

“If you put an asphalt plant in there, there are not going to be all these really cute little local businesses that want to come in and be beside an asphalt plant, that’s all I’ll say about that,” she said.

Resident Jay Holladay said he shared many of the same concerns as Beeny.

“We’ve got concerns that this is just laying the ground for creep in the asphalt plant,” he said, as well as “the side effects of what that asphalt plant can bring negatively to our community.”

Holladay’s concerns with the proposed parcel consolidation also included that it “unnecessarily enlarges the approved site’s footprint and weakens localized guardrails,” according to a list of issues that he brought to the meeting.

The concerns he listed also included, among others, that consolidating the property “enables heavy machinery, large trucks, aggregate stockpiles, fuel storage, and emission-producing structures to potentially encroach into spaces that would otherwise serve as vital buffer zones,” and that it “further diminishes the economic viability of adjacent parcels and further reduces adjoining commercial and residential property values.” 

Besides the Zuhones’ lawsuit, other residents have discussed the possibility of taking legal action of their own. In a Facebook post Sept. 3, however, resident Jackie Ramey said the legal advice that neighbors had received was that they should join the Zuhones’ case as a group, rather than filing separate litigation.

Because it was tabled at the Aug. 17 meeting, the consolidation plat will be on the agenda again for the Wright City Planning & Zoning Commission meeting Sept. 21.