CYPRESS : Residents Protest at Warehouse Site

South Cypress residents opposed to a large warehouse going up near their neighborhood protested at the building site late Tuesday.

The rally, at Valley View Street and Orangewood Avenue, drew about three dozen people, most of whom carried protest signs reading, “No 24-Hour Trucking” and “Warehouse City or Cypress City?” Passing motorists waved and honked their horns in support.

“We’re protesting because today is the anniversary that the City Council voted for this warehouse,” resident Kathy Simcox said. She was referring to the council’s decision on Sept. 26, 1994, to allow Warland Investments Co. to build a 439,650-square-foot warehouse in Cypress Business Center near Valley View and Orangewood.

Council members’ refusal to reconsider the warehouse issue led residents to seek a recall election, which will be Nov. 7.

The warehouse will be used by a Georgia-based company, Shaw Industries, as a carpet-distribution facility. The council’s vote allowed 24-hour operation of the warehouse.

Residents have said repeatedly that the warehouse will cause noise and traffic problems. The City Council, in rebuttal, has said that the facility will cause fewer problems than the original zoning for the land--a business center--would have legally permitted.

The council also has said that the warehouse will bring the city about $800,000 a year in sales taxes.

Resident Bernice Prather carried a sign Tuesday that read, “Recall ‘Em All.”

“This recall is going to be successful, you betcha,” she said. “I’m going to walk the neighborhood for this one.”

Another resident, Devra Nielsen, said, “They didn’t think we’d continue to protest, but we’re going to continue, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the recall is going to be successful.”