The Ocala, Fla., Board of Adjustment decided March 17th to grant a Gainesville company, which operated in the city for 18 months without a license, permission to build a recycling plant in northwest Ocala. However, the city has put in place a host of stipulations the company needs to take care of before it will be able to operate the facility.
Wood Resource Recovery Inc. had requested a special exception to allow a recycling plant in heavy industrial zone.
The proposed wood waste disposal plant site sits near three residential neighborhoods. Many residents are upset with the idea of another industrial business in the community, which currently is surrounded by a lumber mill, a shavings plant, a steel manufacturing plant and a charcoal plant.
Wood Resource Recovery is not new to the area. They operated for a year and a half on the property, which is owned by Ocala Cleat Company without city permission.
The city received a complaint about activity on the property Dec. 9, 2001. In the beginning of the year, the city noticed the company had not stopped operating and issued a stop work order Jan. 7. Two weeks later, the company appeared before the city's Code Board, where they were found guilty of four violations, including operating a business without an occupational license and conducting uses in a M-3 zone that required a special exception from the Board of Adjustment, according to Nancy Overstreet, chief of Zoning and Code Enforcement.
"Other than the violations, the activity at the site was causing major runoff problems by clogging our storm water drains. "We all assumed that what was going on out there was part of the charcoal plant. It didn't click that something was different," Overstreet said.
Bill Gaston owns Wood Resource Recovery Inc. Also, since 1972 he has owned Gaston's Tree Service, both in Gainesville.
Levin Gaston, director of marketing, said the company has contracts with the city and county for their service. He calls the company's failure to get a license an "oversight."
"I don't have a good answer. We didn't get an occupational license. We're sorry," he said.
The request was tabled at the board's Feb. 17 meeting after members wanted city staff to collect community input about the issue. A meeting took place earlier this month with the developer, Planning Development staff and more than 50 residents, who spoke out against the plan.
The Governor's West Ocala Neighborhood Revitalization Council has also written a letter of support to the city on behalf of the residents of the three communities.
Special exception establishes a use that generally is not allowed in that zoning district, unless it is controlled as to "number, location, or relation to the neighborhood do as to promote the general welfare."
"While the M-3 allows the most intensity, they are requesting to do something above and beyond that," said Dave Herlihy, senior planner.
The staff has recommended denial of the request. At the February meeting, they cited several "insufficiencies" in the company's site plan.
Wood Resource Recovery grinds wood products into mulch. Residents near the site on North Martin Luther King Boulevard say there are many reasons the business shouldn't have been allowed to continue.
Some of the city's main concerns in the original site plan were they did not meet the required separation (300 feet) between existing businesses and perimeters of the business, did not have a brick wall or sheet iron fence around the business. Also, access into the site crossed residential zoning.
The southern portion of the M-3 property has a 108-foot strip, running north to south, in a residential zone.
Levin Gaston said they have addressed all the city's concerns with their new site plan. He said the company is environmentally friendly and should be classified as a manufacturing company instead of recycling.
"We opened a facility in Marion County because there is a need for a safe disposal site for wood materials. Before, it was being burned, buried or dumped illegally," said Gaston.
"We produce no odors, no dust, no noise and no pollution. We are a clean industry."
Gaston said the residents are misdirecting their anger from the charcoal plant (located in the same industrial zone) to their business.
"The neighbors down there don't understand what we do," he said. "We're the best use for the property that they are going to get. Anything else will be much worse than us. Do you want me, or a car-crushing plant or junkyard?" Gainesville (Fla.) Sun