MARK SCHUMANN
After five years of discussions with affected property owners and Gifford community leaders, the Indian River County Commission moved a step closer yesterday to creating the West Gifford Industrial and Commercial Area, a special zoning district with overlay regulations intended to mitigate the impact of heavy industrial operations on nearby residential areas.
The163 acre zoning district, increasingly surrounded by residential development, has been zoned General Industrial since the County first established zoning regulations in 1957. General Industrial zoning allows for the heaviest commercial uses.
By a 4-1 vote, the Commission authorized staff to proceed with developing overlay regulations eliminating 15 possible uses, such as landfills, textile mills, petroleum manufacturing, tire manufacturing, cement manufacturing and some other manufacturing. At the same time, the new overlay regulations while allow for 39 more light industrial and commercial uses, including auto repair, dry cleaning plants, concrete cast products and other uses that would have less impact on nearby residents.
The Commission also approved the drafting of an ordinance that will allow staff to apply the new overlay zoning regulations while the final zoning ordinances are written and adopted. The new regulations will also allow for more input from citizens from the surrounding community.
Director of Community Development, Stan Boling, told the Commission that in several meetings with affected property owners over more than a year, land owners agreed to a number of restrictions on heavy industrial uses, but would not accept the eliminating of cement/concrete plants, demolition debris, and mulch products and services as permitted uses.
Commission Chairman Peter O’Bryan did not join with his fellow commissioners in approving the overlay zoning regulations because, he said, he wanted to see tighter restrictions on heavier industrial uses that could impact surrounding areas.
Prestige Concrete has already received County approval to build a concrete ready mix plant on nine acres the company owns at 5045 45th Street. Because of the slowdown in the economy, the plant has not been built and the site plan approval has expired.
A number of County officials and Gifford community leaders told of concerns they have about noise and concrete dust. Commissioner Joe Flescher said that after visiting a Prestige plant in Eau Gallie he is even more concerned about how such a plant in west Gifford would impact the community.
Boling said representatives from Prestige Concrete have worked closely with County staff to design the plant, including proposing additional wash stations to reduce dust, coverings in areas where product would be exposed and centralizing equipment to reduce the noise impact to the surrounding neighborhoods.
Boling explained that because concrete ready mix plants are allowed in the area where Prestige bought its 9 acres, the County cannot simply eliminate what has been an allowable zoning use without compensating the landowner.
A mulching operation already exists in the district as well. Even if mulching products and services were eliminated as permitted uses in the zoning district, the current mulching operation would be allowed to continue as a legal non-conforming use, but would not be allowed to expand the size of its operation.
Finally, the new regulations will eliminate administrative use permits, which essentially approved industrial uses without notice to the surrounding neighborhoods.
Indian River Guardian 
There will be a never-ending battle over the use of property with this type legislation. Naming specific industries to be excluded is ripe for political favoritisim and abuse and is likely unconstitutional. Hold a meeting, add or remove one business and wash your hands.
Would it not be better to write inteligent code that prohibits the offensive characteristics of unwanted businesses? Such characteristics as noise, particulate polution, toxic emmissions, etc. should be codified for all possible uses. Potential buyers or current owners would then be able to enjoy the rights to their own properties.
There has been much discussion by this group about the noise and dust from a concrete batching plant and probably rightly so for the plant proposed by Prestige. However, the technology exists to build concrete batching plants what have none of those characteristics and are attractive to the eye and very good neighbors. We have one in our neighborhood in Massachusetts and it is a very good neighbor and helps the community with a ready supply of local, less expensive concrete.
Let us not fall into the ignorant morass of NIMY.