By Don Edwards
Publisher, CoffeyvilleBLOG.com
The Coffeyville City Commission spent more than an hour listening to local residents and business owners give their thoughts on rezoning an area in the south part of the city so as to allow a local company to locate their metal recycling center there.
In the end, the rezoning of 2410 S. Brown Street from light industrial to heavy industrial was approve 4-1 by the city commission.
John McClure representing Heymann Iron and Metal Company addressed concerns about what he was proposing to do at the Brown Street location and how it would affect the nearby neighborhood.
"We will have cars, but they will not be for salvage," McClure said. "We will not sell salvage cars. We won't have a shredder. We will put a (privacy) fence around the north end (of the property)."
Commissioner Pam Jones voiced concern about extra traffic the proposed business would generate through the nearby neighborhood.
"How are you going to get the scrap metal and cars to (your business)," Jones asked McClure.
"Most of it is brought in by individuals," he replied. "We buy scrap from most everybody."
"Won't that create a lot of traffic in and out of there," Jones asked.
"No more than is there now," McClure said. "There's a trucking deal based out of there."
Mayor Richard Gonzales voiced concern about the route heavy trucks would take to the site.
Jones inquired about whether there was an contamination on the site which had most previously been occupied by Recon. McClure addressed that concern.
"There was a Phase I and Phase II environmentals on that property," he said. "There's no contamination on top of the ground at all."
Jones stated that having grown up in West Coffeyville, she was concerned the proposed recycling center would turn into a blighted area.
"A long time ago when I was a kid growing up, there was Seaton's Junkyard. (The city) spent years trying to get that out of there. I thought there was an ordinance that was put into place at that time that said there could be no salvage yards inside the city limits
"We are not a salvage yard," McClure replied. "We are a scrap yard."
"Well - same difference," Jones said.
"It's totally different," McClure said. "He sold parts off cars and stacked cars - we do not do that."
City Manager Jeff Morris pointed out that the type of facility McClure was proposing was not considered a 'junkyard.'
Heymann's has been in Coffeyville for over 100 years," McClure said. "My dad bought the business and then brought me in. My son is working down there with me now. We don't really have any other place to go. I have a lot of money invested in Coffeyville. Eventually, I'm hoping to eventually create 10 new jobs."
Raymond Cook, 2310 S. Walnut, spoke against the proposal and presented the commission with a petition signed by resident of the nearby neighborhood. Cook gave several reasons he was against the Heymann's proposal.
"We are concerned for a lot of reasons," Cook said. "Especially for the safety and welfare of the little children and the older adults and the devaluation of our properties in that area. This entity will create numerous amount of undesirable animals in our community. You should also consider the increased heavy traffic on our streets."
Planning Commission Chairman Max Williams spoke in favor of approving the proposal.
"We saw no obvious reason to deny this," Williams said. "We've got a guy who is a businessman who wants to grow his business. Why wouldn't we do (this)? It makes no sense to me. And there is a big difference between salvage yard and recycling – a big difference – and it says so in our zoning ordinance. They are two separate things. We voted unanimously for this. There was nobody there to protest it."
Williams also rejected Cook's assertion that the recycling center would bring unwanted wildlife to the neighborhood.
"I'd like to speak on behalf of the Historical Society of which I am a board member," Williams said. "There's no way that will affect the Brown Mansion. You cannot even see (the proposed recycling center site) from there. In my experience, you get wild animals when a place sits vacant."
Acme Foundry President Tom Tatman spoke in favor of the Heymann's request.
"We've been doing business with (Heymann's) for 35 years – maybe longer than that," he said. "This is a processing facility. We buy a lot of scrap from them. This isn't sit-around scrap that sits there every single day and looks bad. He's processing new scrap all the time. We take his scrap, we melt it, we turn it into castings and they go onto John Deere mowers and everything else across the world. What he's proposing to do I do not see any reason why the city would deny this.
"In today's world, little towns need to keep good people like the Heymann's – now McClures – in town because otherwise he's going to be gobbled up by a big scrap yard in Tulsa or Chicago or someplace like that and then we won't have that one-on-one contact that we have with them."
Les Walters, 2404 S. Walnut, spoke against.
"I'm 84 years old," Walters said. "These have been called junk yards since I was a boy and I don't see a difference."
Mark Muller, 204 N. Central, spoke in favor of the proposal.
"We are talking about a business that's been in town over 100 years dating back to the 1880s," he said. "(They) support the community, the Interstate Fair, the 4-H clubs, the FFAs. (We have) another generation wanting to stay in town and expand their business. While I understand the sensitivity with the location, for our business to have Heymann's (is beneficial)."
Commissioner Jim C. Taylor, Sr., spoke in favor of helping a local business, but also voiced concern over the traffic the recycling center would bring into the area.
Coffeyville Area Chamber of Commerce representative Ryan Thompson also spoke in favor of the proposal, noting that Heymann's could expand into other kinds of recycling in the future such as glass, paper and plastic.
"This is progressive," he said. "In May (the Chamber) did a poll of local businesses and received 80 responses and all were in favor of seeing a recycling center put into place in Coffeyville. This is something the businesses of Coffeyville need and the citizens need as well."
Jones queried Thompson.
"If a house was built in that area, would you buy it?"
"Well there are houses being built in that area right now," Thompson replied. "Personally, I look for land and everything else. (The recycling center) has nothing to do with it. I don't even know why this is being discussed. This has always been zoned industrial land."
Jones pressed Thompson.
"They are thinking of building more houses on S. Walnut," she said. "If there were new houses being built in there, would you find that attractive?"
Thompson countered: "I think what you need to do is you need to focus on the businesses that you have and not plan for things that you don't know about."
"Don't plan for the future?" Jones asked.
"I think you need to plan for the future right now – is 'green' not an issue," Thompson asked.
"I don't think he's going to do the type of recycling you say he is," Jones said.
"(McClure) is right there," Thompson said. "You can ask him point blank. And I would take his word over anything. I think that's what you need to be questioning."
At this point Jones told Thompson to "go sit down" ... an instruction to which Thompson took exception.
"Don't tell me to go sit down," he said. "Excuse me?"
After a 10-minute break, the mayor reconvened the meeting. Several more residents and business owners spoke on the issue before the commission passed the rezoning on a 4-1 vote with Jones in the dissent.
