The proposed recycling center at 10th and Harrison Streets lost round one at the Board of Appeals on Wednesday night when the commission voted unanimously to uphold the suspension of its permit. Scott Sanchez, the city’s Zoning Administrator, suspended it for failure to conduct neighborhood outreach.
Our Planet Recycling argued that they were not a recycling center because they were not operating from an enclosed space and therefore did not have to do neighborhood outreach. “Well then, what are you?” Sanchez asked. Service, Arts and Light Industrial (SALI) zoning only allows a specific list of uses. The property most recently was a parking lot. Any change of use in the SALI requires neighborhood notification.
Next step is a Building Inspection Department Director’s hearing, where the penalty for work without a permit (the light poles erected next to the neighboring building) will be considered, on Tuesday, July 22, 9:30 am at the Department of Building Inspection, 1660 Mission Street, Room 2001.
Finally, Ors Csaszar from Our Planet Recycling will need to decide what his operation is before applying for a new permit.
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