Newtown needs a compromise to clear the air
Forty-two years ago, no one disputed Carl Loef’s claim that he could improve 859 Athens St. with a junkyard, though it was right next to homes on Mill and Norwood streets.
But in 1975, when Loef made plans to expand Gainesville Scrap Iron and Metal, his neighbors asked the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals not to approve it.
“One resident stated that they were being run our their homes by junkyards. One person stated that they would like to have a beautiful place to live and raise their children. — not a junkyard. One person stated they were trying to get Community Development to purchase the property and beautify it,” read the minutes from the November 1975 meeting.
Still, the Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously backed Loef. And over the next 20 years, as Gainesville Scrap Iron and Metal moved closer to their homes, residents cited the problems with unkempt drainage ditches, dust, rodents and noise. But almost every time, the Board of Zoning Appeals approved the industry’s expansion.
Today, Newtown residents’ requests are nearly the same as they were in November 1975.
The community has complained for numerous years, and you’re telling me if you have any sentiment or any regard for people, at some point, somebody would have made some concessions, you know? said former Newtown resident Tyrone Sims.
But local government officials who inherited the decades-long drama between the residents and their nearby industrial neighbors say harmony in Newtown requires them to balance the needs of the residents and the industries carefully.
None will say, however, which weighs more: the industries that, for more than 50 years, have provided jobs and tax dollars to the community or the residents whose families have been there even longer and feel their health has been compromised by their proximity to industry.
“One resident stated that they were being run our their homes by junkyards. One person stated that they would like to have a beautiful place to live and raise their children. — not a junkyard. One person stated they were trying to get Community Development to purchase the property and beautify it,” read the minutes from the November 1975 meeting.
Still, the Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously backed Loef. And over the next 20 years, as Gainesville Scrap Iron and Metal moved closer to their homes, residents cited the problems with unkempt drainage ditches, dust, rodents and noise. But almost every time, the Board of Zoning Appeals approved the industry’s expansion.
Today, Newtown residents’ requests are nearly the same as they were in November 1975.
The community has complained for numerous years, and you’re telling me if you have any sentiment or any regard for people, at some point, somebody would have made some concessions, you know? said former Newtown resident Tyrone Sims.
But local government officials who inherited the decades-long drama between the residents and their nearby industrial neighbors say harmony in Newtown requires them to balance the needs of the residents and the industries carefully.
None will say, however, which weighs more: the industries that, for more than 50 years, have provided jobs and tax dollars to the community or the residents whose families have been there even longer and feel their health has been compromised by their proximity to industry.
A lot of problems could be fixed.
Much of Newtown’s fight for what residents and advocates call environmental justice has involved petitioning the state’s Environmental Protection Division to force industries to clean up their act.
Represented by Greenlaw, a public interest law firm in Atlanta, the Newtown community has, over the years, brought environmental grievances to the EPDs attention.
Battle by battle, the community’s persistence has achieved some victories. Their continuous complaints about grain dust forced the Land O’Lakes Purina feed mill to fix faulty grain silos and resulted in greater regulation of hexane emissions, a chemical the nearby Cargill plant uses to make soybean oil. However, EPD hasn’t always enforced air quality standards with the tenacity Newtown residents would like. And with the state in a budget crisis, the agency may be even less watchful now than in the past.
EPD periodically inspects Newtown’s industries for compliance with their permits to release toxins into the air. Companies such as Cargill, which EPD considers a major source of pollution, are inspected annually. EPD inspects companies such as Purina, considered a minor source of pollution, based on complaints.
Lately, the industries that are normally regulated by the state agency have been inspected less often because of the state’s budget deficit, said Lou Musgrove, manager of EPDs stationary source compliance program.
We do fewer inspections because we have … three vacancies in my program, so we’ve got three less engineers to be out in the field, so that affects how many inspections we can do, Musgrove said. We haven’t eased up on enforcement when we find violations, but obviously, more field presence would be better.
But even when the agency is fully staffed, EPD does not consider the scrap yard on Athens Street enough of a source of air pollution to require a permit. And while they can force an inspection of Purina with a complaint about grain dust, Newtown residents feel they have nowhere to go with complaints about the dust created by the junkyard, now under new ownership as Blaze Recycling & Metals.
With the mills and things, we can always call EPD, but as far as the junkyard, its no one to call, said Faye Bush, president of the Newtown Florist Club. For these reasons, advocates for the community insist that much of the issues in Newtown, the dust, the noise, and the odors of the industry will have to be remedied by local action.
“Sometimes, I don’t think people take the problems that are going on in that community as seriously as they should,” said Justine Thompson, the executive director of GreenLaw. A lot of the problems could be fixed with sufficient political will … if the city of Gainesville committed to remedying a lot of the problems there and taking it seriously, a lot of problems could be fixed.
Newtown situation calls for a more intensive political approach to environmental justice than simple state regulation, said Jamie Baker Roskie, a land use attorney with the University of Georgia. In January, Roskie and other Newtown advocates asked the City Council to strengthen the city’s noise and air quality ordinances. Roskie proposed that the city establish a maximum noise level, measured by decibels, for different times of day and zoning districts. She also proposed that the city put a damper on dust emissions and require businesses that generate a certain amount of dust to create and continuously update a plan to mitigate it.
Represented by Greenlaw, a public interest law firm in Atlanta, the Newtown community has, over the years, brought environmental grievances to the EPDs attention.
Battle by battle, the community’s persistence has achieved some victories. Their continuous complaints about grain dust forced the Land O’Lakes Purina feed mill to fix faulty grain silos and resulted in greater regulation of hexane emissions, a chemical the nearby Cargill plant uses to make soybean oil. However, EPD hasn’t always enforced air quality standards with the tenacity Newtown residents would like. And with the state in a budget crisis, the agency may be even less watchful now than in the past.
EPD periodically inspects Newtown’s industries for compliance with their permits to release toxins into the air. Companies such as Cargill, which EPD considers a major source of pollution, are inspected annually. EPD inspects companies such as Purina, considered a minor source of pollution, based on complaints.
Lately, the industries that are normally regulated by the state agency have been inspected less often because of the state’s budget deficit, said Lou Musgrove, manager of EPDs stationary source compliance program.
We do fewer inspections because we have … three vacancies in my program, so we’ve got three less engineers to be out in the field, so that affects how many inspections we can do, Musgrove said. We haven’t eased up on enforcement when we find violations, but obviously, more field presence would be better.
But even when the agency is fully staffed, EPD does not consider the scrap yard on Athens Street enough of a source of air pollution to require a permit. And while they can force an inspection of Purina with a complaint about grain dust, Newtown residents feel they have nowhere to go with complaints about the dust created by the junkyard, now under new ownership as Blaze Recycling & Metals.
With the mills and things, we can always call EPD, but as far as the junkyard, its no one to call, said Faye Bush, president of the Newtown Florist Club. For these reasons, advocates for the community insist that much of the issues in Newtown, the dust, the noise, and the odors of the industry will have to be remedied by local action.
“Sometimes, I don’t think people take the problems that are going on in that community as seriously as they should,” said Justine Thompson, the executive director of GreenLaw. A lot of the problems could be fixed with sufficient political will … if the city of Gainesville committed to remedying a lot of the problems there and taking it seriously, a lot of problems could be fixed.
Newtown situation calls for a more intensive political approach to environmental justice than simple state regulation, said Jamie Baker Roskie, a land use attorney with the University of Georgia. In January, Roskie and other Newtown advocates asked the City Council to strengthen the city’s noise and air quality ordinances. Roskie proposed that the city establish a maximum noise level, measured by decibels, for different times of day and zoning districts. She also proposed that the city put a damper on dust emissions and require businesses that generate a certain amount of dust to create and continuously update a plan to mitigate it.