ANAHEIM : Redevelopment Plan, Rezoning for Recycling Center OKd

A redevelopment plan has been approved for a controversial recycling center and junkyard to operate until 2013 without obtaining new permits.

Mayor Tom Daly argued unsuccessfully during a City Council meeting Tuesday that the city should be given greater authority to place operating conditions on Adams Steel, which is under a court order to remove a 50,000-ton pile of potentially toxic waste by May, 1998.

The pile consists of scrap metal and foam from shredded automobiles and appliances.

Daly, concerned that toxic chemicals in the waste pile could contaminate Anaheim’s underground water supply, called it a “very serious mistake” to disregard the advice of city planners and grant Adams Steel the zoning change it sought. He was supported by Councilman Tom Tait.

“Anaheim has to raise its standards,” said Daly, who maintained that nearby cities, such as Yorba Linda, Orange and Villa Park, would place greater restrictions on companies like Adams Steel.

Council members Bob Zemel, Frank Feldhaus and Lou Lopez sided with Adams Steel, however.

“This is a property rights issue, plain and simple,” Zemel said. Without the zoning change, he said, the firm might fail and leave the city with the responsibility for cleaning up the site.

“We don’t want to pay to remove that pile ourselves,” Zemel said.

The Adams Steel issue proved to be the main point of contention as the council approved a sweeping redevelopment plan that will help guide the future of northeast Anaheim.

The 7 million square feet of additional commercial and industrial development that could be accommodated in the area represents a significant source of new tax revenue for the city.