Council to discuss recycling center

Published 8:19 pm Monday, June 14, 2010

A volunteer firefighter insurance mix-up and a proposed recycling center in a downtown neighborhood are on Wednesday’s Suffolk City Council agenda.

The city’s governing body will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in City Council Chambers, 441 Market St. A work session will be held at 4 p.m.

During the regular meeting, the council will hear a staff report on the status of worker’s compensation coverage for Suffolk’s volunteer firefighters. Beginning June 4, the volunteers were forced into a five-day hiatus when the city’s worker’s compensation insurance policy covering them was canceled because of compliance issues. A former city employee failed to provide information and complete a routine audit, according to city spokeswoman Debbie George. Volunteers began manning their stations again on June 9 after a new policy was put in place.

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The council also will consider a conditional use permit request to permit a recycling center at 425 S. Saratoga St. to be operated by Mid Atlantic Recycling Solutions, LLC. The company hopes to operate a recycling center that would accept and package various recyclable materials and ship them out to other facilities for transformation into new products.

Residents of the Saratoga neighborhood fought against the proposal as it made its way through the Planning Commission process. After the commission granted the business owners 30 days to meet with the community and that meeting never happened, the commission voted unanimously to recommend denial of the request.

Several area property owners plan to attend the council meeting, they said at last month’s Planning Commission meeting. Several hope the land can be made into a park or recreation center.

Also on the agenda are a conditional use permit on behalf of CrossPointe Freewill Baptist Church and an ordinance to sell public property at 208 Pinner St. The recycling center, the church permit and the Pinner Street property all will involve public hearings.