New Location Eyed For C.W.O. Scrapyard
The Ashland Planning Commission postponed a decision Tuesday night on whether to allow a scrapyard to operate on Sum Road after Mayor Bill Whalen and C.W.O. Auto & Scrap Removal, LLC owner Chris O'Connell said they're working on locating C.W.O. to a different site.
The Planning Commission voted to delay consideration of a conditional use permit and site plans for C.W.O. until April 10, giving O'Connell 60 days to investigate a potential move to the Bay Area Rural Transit facility site on Industrial Park Road.
O'Connell has said he needs to move some of his operations on Holmes Road to someplace else because of weight restrictions on County Highway A. Ashland County officials have told O'Connell they do not want his business using that road, especially in the spring when roads are most vulnerable to deterioration.
BART plans to move its current facility on Industrial Park Road to 22nd Avenue East and 6th Street East, possibly by the end of this year, according BART Manager Tom Waby, who is also a planning commission member.
City officials said they're hopeful that O'Connell would encounter less opposition if he moved to the BART site because it would better conform to the heavy industrial nature of nearby businesses, including Waste Management.
O'Connell says he's short on time because of the weight restrictions on County Highway A, but he might get some help from Ashland County Highway Commissioner Emmer Shields. Shields has agreed to negotiate with O'Connell to temporarily allow C.W.O. to continue using County Highway A, according to Whalen and O'Connell.
O'Connell has struggled for three years to find a new spot for his business, and the proposed Sum Road site has been met with opposition from neighbors.
Several neighbors attended Tuesday's meeting and voiced their concern about a scrapyard potentially reducing their property values and damaging the area's quality of life.
A neighbor north of the proposed site, Bonnie Friske, said the process for approving C.W.O.'s site plan is moving “so fast.” “The more we think about it, the more we're against it,” she said. “This situation has driven our stress levels through the roof.”
O'Connell had requested quick action on his request for a conditional use permit in order to find a new location before weight restrictions on County Highway A took effect in the spring. On Tuesday night, O'Connell said any agreement reached with Shields and Ashland County would be contingent on him moving his hauling-based operations out of the Holmes Road location.
“That's their intention, to help me this spring, but they kind of want some assurance that we're going to get moved,” O'Connell said. “That's very important to them because I hauled on that road all summer long.”
O'Connell said he still wants the Sum Road site to remain an option if his new plan to locate to the BART site or another site don't work out.