By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus City Board of Zoning Appeals approved two area variances at its meeting Tuesday.
Hord Livestock requested an area variance to use stone for the surface of the company’s new wash facility to be located at 1435 Isaac-Beal Road. According to the Codified Ordinance, the property, which is now located in the Limited Industrial/Commercial district, is required to install a hard, durable, dustless surface such as asphalt or concrete pavement.
Hord Livestock project manager Jamie Christman explained that, due to the square footage at the facility, it would cost the company more to install blacktop than it would to construct the buildings at the location.
Zoning Administrator John Rostash noted that the gravel will slow the rate of runoff and water would not soak into the ground as quickly. There will also be a retention pond at the facility to assist in draining water from the buildings.
Zoning Appeals Chair Ken Emerson invited Terry Spiegel, superintendent of the city’s Waste Water Treatment Plant, to shed some light on how the washing facility will affect the city’s system.
Hord’s trucks and trailers, which generally haul nursery pigs and sows from barn to barn, will enter the facility from Isaac-Beal Rd. and exit onto Beal Ave. Once at the facility, the trailers will be swept of straw, bedding, and manure before entering the wash bay. At the wash bay, any remaining waste will be sprayed off with water into a 2,000 gallon holding tank and separated. The solids will fall to the bottom of the tank and will be cleaned out periodically.
“We won’t get a whole lot of fecal matter and manure (in the system),” Spiegel said. “There’s really no fecal matter at all.”
Spiegel added that any waste still in the system will be diluted with water by the time it reaches the Waste Water Treatment Plant.
“We have no problem with it,” Spiegel said. “I think the process will work very well.”
Christman added that once completed, an inspector will oversee the Isaac-Beal and Lincoln Highway facilities full-time. The buildings are also being designed to fit in with the industrial look of the area with brown siding and brick facing.
The Board of Zoning Appeals granted the request for the area variance.
Michael Robinett of Trinity Monuments requested an area variance to construct a 20-feet-by-50-feet addition to the rear of his business. Trinity Monuments, located in the General Business zoning district, is required to have the building set back from its rear property line by 30 feet. The addition would put the building within 20 feet of the property line but would stay in line with the established building.
The Board of Zoning Appeals saw no issue with the request and granted the area variance.
The next Board of Zoning Appeals meeting has been set for Dec. 9.