“If they continue to drag their feet, we will put this on the ballot.”
Fighting words Friday from former Chico mayor Karl Ory as he and about a dozen activists pledged to eject a scrapyard from its current location.
The dispute stretches back over a decade. County and later city officials rezoned the area, encouraging residential development. Industrial businesses, including an asphalt plant, trucking yard and furniture refinisher along with Chico Scrap Metal, were given a deadline to move, activists said. While the rest found new homes, the scrap yard dug in. Legal wrangling followed.
While the scrapyard’s entrance is on a busy commercial street — a stone’s throw from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., the property’s rear abuts modest single family homes. A habitat for humanity built subdivision is just up the street. While Sierra’s climate-controlled production line is entirely enclosed, work at the scrapyard mainly proceeds in the open air.
The city’s planning commission is scheduled to consider the issue Thursday. The city council will have the final say. The pro-business majority insists that forcing the business to move is unfair. They instead are pushing to allow the yard to remain permanently.
Activists also said the yard’s proximity to an elementary school wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere.
Activist Robyn DiFalco hinted that environmental racism may be in play.
“The largely low-income minority residents of Chapman and the children attending Chapman Elementary are disproportionately impacted by the toxic burden of this junkyard,” DiFalco said.