FAST FACTS:
- Mulch Company opens in Getwell Community
- Neighbors worried about noise, dust and traffic from the company
- Mulch Company Owner says studies shows noise and dust won’t be a problem
(Memphis 3/19/2012) – As a Pastor James Henderson knows plenty about loving thy neighbor.
But he doesn’t like what the new neighbor across the street from his church has planned.
“I first noticed it primarily from the smell.The mulch smell in the area. It was very strong,” says Pastor Henderson.
He says the smell was coming from the mulching company that moved in a few months ago.
Micheal Potts set up business in the area zoned light industrial with plans of taking trees and limbs and grinding them into mulch.
“This is a produce that is used on school property, approved to be used on playgrounds,” says Potts.
“We are concerned with the business itself. This is not the type of business that’s located in a residential area,” says Pastor Henderson.
When the company filed for a special permit, to use a Magnum 6400 chipper on the property it set off a neighborhood fury about noise, traffic and dust.
A Child Impact study said there could be serious concerns for public health for composting type businesses like the mulching company.
But owner Michael Potts says producing wood chips and producing compost are two different things. He had two other studies done. Those studies questioned the findings in the Child Impact Report.
Still the risk got the attention of Heather Stephens who works at the Church and has a 1 year old in Daycare there.
“My daughter has bronchial issues and is in and out of the doctor. I don’t need anything that is gonna compromise her health in any way,” says Stephens.
But Potts says the horizontal grinder produces very little dust.
“Just by its design it will not eject materials up into the air,” says Potts.
Memphis City Council Member Wanda Halbert is now calling for a community meeting to discuss all sides.
“We have all these undesirables businesses saying we can move in here without anybody saying anything without there being no outcry from the community and that needs to stop,” says Pastor Henderson.
Michael Potts says the Land Use Control Board supported his special use permit after a study showed the mulching would have no adverse noise impact.
No date has been set for the community meeting about this issue.
The issue still has to go before the Memphis City Council.