Bye bye bulk ammonium nitrate.
The Athens City Council on Monday night gave city staff the green light to move forward on a Zoning Ordinance amendment targeting fertilizer plants.
The process to ban the hazardous material began just a week after a May 29 fire at an Athens ammonium nitrate storage facility caused officials to set up an evacuation zone in approximately a five block radius.
Ammonium nitrate is an important fertilizer that was on the premises at both the Athens fire and the West Fertilizer Plant fire and explosion in April 2013.
The proposed amendment reads, in part: “Commercial Fertilizer Storage or Manufacturing Facilities used to produce, transfer, store, or offer for sale Bulk Ammonium Nitrate, Bulk Ammonium Nitrate Material and/or Anhydrous Ammonium shall not be allowed in any zoning district in the City.”
Athens City Attorney Conor Bateman told council members the ordinance was the strongest the city could write.
Any existing facilities could be grandfathered into the city, however the only facility that would effect is the one that burned down. If that facility was rebuilt, it would have to adhere to the new building codes related to ammonium nitrate.
The proposed ordinance also includes the following section: “The City may inspect a commercial fertilizer storage or manufacturing facility at any time upon reasonable notice, or without notice in exigent circumstances, when necessary to ensure compliance with the City Zoning Ordinance, all City Ordinances, and all federal, state, and local regulations applicable to the storage and sale of ammonium nitrate or anhydrous ammonium by any commercial fertilizer storage facility or manufacturing facility.”
The proposed ordinance will now go to the Zoning Commission.