Chico Scrap Metal referendum to be challenged in court

By Paul Ploumis

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The Chico City Council has decided to challenge the public referendum against Chico Scrap Metal in the court. The decision was approved by a 4-2 vote during the closed session of the Council held the previous day. The referendum document by the citizen group “Move the Junkyard” with more than adequate signatures was filed before the council during early-January this year.

Kim Scott, owner of Chico Scrap Metal noted that the council has taken the right path by deciding to challenge the referendum. According to her, the facility has been part of the community and economic growth, making positive difference in people’s lives. Moreover, it has offered a safe place for recycling to the people of the community, providing valuable services to the Chico community. She added that the allegations of environmental harm are unfounded. Meantime, she has repeatedly expressed willingness to relocate, provided it gets assistance from the city to meet the projected relocation expenses. Further, she claimed that scientific research has proven that the facility is not toxic.

Meantime, Richard Harriman, Attorney for Move the Junkyard stated that he is not surprised by the city’s decision. He termed the city’s decision as waste of money and disrespect to the voice of the people. He alleged that the city’s action must be viewed as a continuation of the series of mistakes that they have made in this whole project.

In 2004, six businesses including CSM were asked to relocate/ shut down, citing non-conformance of industrial and commercial operation in the Chapman Mulberry neighborhood. All the other five businesses relocated. In 2006, CSM secured five-year extension of the deadline. In 2011, the deadline was again extended for another five years until October this year. The council meeting held during May this year, by way of a 4-3 vote, had decided not to take action to relocate the scrap facility. In October 2016, the council members voted to allow the scrap metal firm to continue operations at its current site.

Citizen group “Move the Junkyard” had later taken up the campaign against the facility, by launching a referendum campaign. According to the legal petition filed against the city, it alleged that the decision to allow Chico Scrap Metal to stay at that location is not compliant with state environmental, planning and zoning law because of traffic, air quality, environmental justice and land-use conflicts. The referendum had managed to garner 7,255 signatures, much more than the minimum requirement of 5,001 votes-10% of the voting population’s support to force a review of the decision. The group had also filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force the move.

Chico Scrap Metal is one of the two recycling centres in the town, the other one being Fair Street Recycling at 2300 Fair St, a non-profit affiliate of the Work Training Center.

About Chico Scrap Metal

Chico Scrap Metal (CSM), established in 1983, is a family operated business supporting the community in their personal and business recycling needs. The easily accessible location at East 20th Street provides safe and proper recycling of materials that would otherwise be discarded in landfills. CSM works with local businesses and individuals to provide bins to recycle metals. The company retrieves the materials from the bins which are recycled in an environment-friendly manner. The company is a major recycler of all ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals.