Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993 TAG: 9301130255
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
`FLUFF' OPERATION TO FACE DEBATE
As Franklin Countians hurtle toward yet another clash over land-use zoning, the industry responsible more than any other for this latest zoning push has again entered the debate.Shredded Products Inc.'s proposal to construct an industrial-waste disposal facility for vehicle "fluff" will be debated Feb. 11 at Franklin County High School.
The public hearing is to provide the Virginia Department of Waste Management with opinions on whether to grant Shredded Products, a subsidiary of Roanoke Electric Stee1, a permit to bury vehicle-recycling byproducts.
Shredded Products' operation would take up 40 acres of a 436-acre site known as Peaceful Valley Farm. There, the company would recover metal from cars to be recycled at Roanoke Electric Steel. The non-metal parts - for instance, the foam from car seats - would be buried at the landfill.
The farm is in the Snow Creek magisterial district, one of three voting districts with no zoning regulations.
In 1989, a huge stockpile of fluff caught fire at the company's Bedford County operation and smoldered for 40 days.
In April 1991, Shredded Products announced its intention to move to the Franklin County site. The supervisors immediately approved the landfill. With no zoning in the Snow Creek district, a public hearing was not required.
Snow Creek Supervisor Page Matherly was elected that fall after running a pro-zoning campaign.
The supervisors are expected to discuss again Tuesday the possibility of adding zoning to the Snow Creek, Blue Ridge and Blackwater voting districts.
The Department of Waste Management is expected to hand down a decision on Shredded Products' landfill permit sometime in March.