Residents of Sayler Park are scrambling to prevent a giant cement plant from casting a shadow of industrialization over its rustic neighborhoods.

        More than 150 anxious residents of the Ohio River neighborhood met with community council officials Monday evening to plan strategy to fight a proposed cement distribution plant to be built on its banks.

        The barge facility, which would be built by Lone Star Industries, Inc., is targeted for the shore area at 6381 River Road, about 12 miles west of downtown Cincinnati.

        The plant would have two cement silo towers, each nearly 100 feet high, and would handle an esti mated 2,000 cement trucks annually.

        Residents complained that neither Cincinnati nor state environmental officials consulted with them before considering permits requested by Lone Star.

        Brian Dunn has lived in Sayler Park for 17 years and described the cement plant as “the biggest threat ever to this community.”

        Mr. Dunn said cement dust worries him, as does increased truck traffic along River Road.

        “And it will hurt property values here,” he said.

        Fellow resident Hale Newman agreed, saying that the planned cement plant “undermines what Sayler Park is all about.”

        “This is a scenic, historic community; and that is big industry they want to put in here,” said Mr. Newman.

        No representatives of Lone Star attended the community council meeting at Sayler Park School.

        Cincinnati City Councilwoman Alicia Reece attended and is among the council members vowing to help.

        “The neighborhood was the last to know this was going on,” Ms. Reece said.

        The plant is waiting for building permits from the city and still must obtain permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

        Sayler Park officials are aggressively lobbying Army Corps officials to grant a public hearing on the permit request.

        They have also started fund-raising should the is sue go to court.

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