THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190409
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mac Daniel
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
Of all the land available for a cotton gin in this 429-square-mile city, Byron McCreary looks at the field across from his home and wonders: Why here?
Local businessman Morris Glover walks on the same land, his land, and asks: Why not?
Glover hopes Virginia's fourth cotton gin will find a home on this plot, across Route 58 from McCreary's house in the small community of Holland.
Tonight, the Suffolk City Council will consider approving the gin. The vote will be the second time in four months that the council has considered approving industry in residents' back yards.
In January, the council approved a race track in Northern Suffolk, causing a skirmish with local residents who said the noise and traffic from the track would ruin their neighborhoods. The cotton gin raises many of those same questions, namely, how can Suffolk preserve communities while encouraging industry to come and stay?
``That question, how you balance it, is not always easily answered,'' said Suffolk Mayor S. Chris Jones, who said the zoning process and the use of restrictions on an industry can protect the rights of citizens.
``But even when that's done, it doesn't always address the concerns,'' he added. ``There are some people who feel that, once they move somewhere, this is the way it is, and it should never change. I don't know if that's realistic. But it's something that everyone has the right to expect: that their elected officials will respect and consider those feelings and issues when they come before them.''
McCreary and other neighbors have no problem with the idea of a gin itself. Cotton is a booming crop in Virginia. This season alone, cotton acreage in the state is expected to double to almost 90,000 acres.
``I'm not against the gin,'' McCreary said. ``I just wish they'd put it somewhere else.''
McCreary is concerned about his wife, who was diagnosed in June with chronic lymphatic leukemia, a cancer that impairs the immune system.
If the gin goes in, he said, she would become a prisoner in her home for three months each year during the ginning season for fear of infection from microscopic cotton dust the gin might produce.
About 16 homes are near the gin site. And with the industry moving next door, residents are worried about declining home values and instability in a community that prides itself on its strength.
Residents also worry about fires at the gin and the effect that the waste from the plant could have on the water table in the area.
But Glover isn't budging. Nor is the city forcing him to move.
The location of the gin has never been officially questioned, despite concerns that it will spew dust and cotton all over Holland, despite fears of noise from the plant, of fire from the cotton waste, and of the round-the-clock parade of trucks in and out of the facility during ginning season.
The Planning Commission voted 10-2 this month to approve rezoning the land. The City Council will take up the matter at 7 tonight in the council chambers in City Hall.
If approved as proposed, the Holland gin will be the closest such facility to residential homes in Virginia.
The Commonwealth Gin in Windsor has a quarter-mile gap between its machinery and the nearest home. In Holland a home sits about 100 feet from the gin's 15-acre site.
There are gins operating or planned to the north, south and west of Suffolk. There are gins in Gates County, N.C., and Windsor. Another is planned outside Franklin.
A gin in Holland, Glover said, would serve local farmers, saving them the cost of travel while bringing the city an estimated $10,000 in taxes annually for the first five years.
Glover will benefit as well. He is planning to grow at least 20,000 acres of cotton this season.
The proposal also fits Suffolk's desire to lure industry to help pay for the city's current and future residential growth.
Morris Glover said he has checked around and is sure his gin will not be a bad neighbor.
``I've spent the last four months visiting gin sites,'' said Glover. ``I've talked to gin owners, and I've talked to the people who run them. I guarantee people who live near the gin won't be able to tell if it's running or not.
``We've been to the EPA, the state Department of Environmental Quality, and we've gotten their permission. We don't know anything else we can do.''
McCreary and his fellow neighbors have a different view.
McCreary's phone bill totaled $212 last month, with calls to other cotton-growing Southern states, asking questions about the industry that's about to move across the street. Most of the air quality officials he contacted, he said, were astounded that Suffolk would allow a gin to be built so close to homes.
``All of the city of Suffolk is impacted by this decision,'' said McCreary. ``If they can do it to us, they can do it to you, too.''
Glover and his attorney, Joshua Pretlow Jr., assured the Planning Commission that the cotton gin would be equipped with the latest technology to ensure cotton particles were not released into the adjoining neighborhood.
But until the gin is built and operating, residents have only the proponent's promises to rely on. The Planning Commission placed no restrictions on the gin's operation.
Joe Simmons moved his family to Holland four years ago to escape the noise from a cold storage warehouse in Downtown Suffolk. He lived next to the plant, where fans ran around the clock, blowing noise and dust into his home. For years, he said, he and his wife couldn't hang clothing outside.
Last week, two lines of fresh laundry were draped outside his home, which is down the street from the proposed cotton gin. ``I just wanted some space,'' Simmons said.
``I feel like they owe me that much not to come in here and make such a dramatic change,'' he said. ``You buy your home in good faith. When I moved here, I understood that the land around me would remain in an agricultural zone. But there's a big difference between agriculture and a cotton gin.
``And if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone in the city.''
There are already signs of defeat in the Simmons' household. They have put off installing a new heating and air-conditioning unit and a new roof.
``What's the point?'' asked Simmons. ``I have to live here one year and see what that thing is all about.''
``You've got to fight because you've got to live with yourself,'' said his wife, Janet. ``But right now, the only way it's going to work is if there's a miracle. . . . Right now, they seem more interested in industry than they are in the people they're affecting.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by Michael Kestner
Bobby Harrell, left, his wife, Barbara, and Joe Simmons are a few of
the residents who oppose the location of a cotton gin on U.S. Route
58 in Holland. The cross marks the end of the lot for which rezoning
has been requested.
KEYWORDS: COTTON GIN by CNB