The controversy over a scrap yard in Chico may be back from the dead. Opponents of Chico Scrap Metal said they will submit more than enough signatures on Thursday to force the contentious issue to a city-wide referendum.
Newly elected City Councilman Karl Ory, said opponents will turn in more than 6,000 signatures, about 1,100 more than required.
“I don’t think a toxic, industrial use belongs in any neighborhood near a school anywhere in Chico,” Ory said. “And the Habitat (for Humanity) Homes that are being built and the investments that have been made in the neighborhood were based on the promises that Chico Scrap Metal would move.”
The pro-business City Council majority narrowly rejected an appeal by local environmentalists seeking to enforce a decades-old plan to slowly push out industrial businesses and make the neighborhood more residential. Chico Scrap Metal is the last holdout.
The company, which relocated to its current site in 1983, argues it can’t afford to move and shouldn’t be forced out.