By Michael V. Hannigan
The Athens City Council heard an update from City Attorney Connor Bateman Monday, July 14, about “options regarding additional zoning regulations concerning the manufacturing and/or storage of fertilizer/hazardous materials.”
The move comes six weeks after a fire at East Texas Ag Services caused fire officials to evacuate the area for five blocks around the building. The building is used as a storage area for fertilizer, including ammonium nitrate, which is the chemical compound that exploded at the West Fertilizer Company on April 17, 2013, killing 15 and injuring more than 160.
Bateman said he has done a lot of research into options and wanted direction from the council on how to continue. Due to the dangerousness of stored chemicals, in an effort to prevent events such as this tragedy from happening again, safety storage regulations and protocols may need to be followed – visit this website to learn more.
He told council members he was surprised to find that “most cities don’t cover fertilizer (in their zoning ordinance), even after the tragedy in West.”
Options included zoning ammonium nitrate and other hazardous materials to a specific area of the city, such as an industrial zone, or completely banning such materials for public safety considerations.
The council directed Bateman and the staff to draft an ordinance to ban bulk hazardous materials, fertilizer storage and mixing in the city limits.
Councilman Charles Elliott was concerned that individual bags of fertilizer not be included in the ban and he was assured that wouldn’t happen.