We had a long talk with one of the city councilmen this weekend, and according to him, the community is overwhelmingly in favor of this decision, even counting all the people who showed up the other night to protest it. He says he agonized about it for five months, that he got many, many calls from people saying that if it will bring jobs to the town they want the biodiesel plant, and finally came to the conclusion that he would approve the rezone, even if it were happening next to his house. I don't think I believe that, but I do believe that it was a difficult decision for him. Our town, according to him, is desperately in need of money. So maybe this is the only way they could see of making ends meet. This is why they sold us so cheaply.

I hope Honeyville gets everything it was promised.

Remember! The meeting is tonight! We have to turn out in large numbers and help the City Council to understand just how unpopular this rezoning idea is. They're counting on only a handful of homeowners being upset, so we have to show them that NOBODY WANTS THIS.

7:00 tonight at City Hall.

If you can't come to the meeting, please call the members of the City Council and tell them your concerns. Here is a link to the page on the city website where you can find all their names and telephone numbers: Honeyville City Administration

Very few people I've spoken to have known about the rezoning, and the ones that did thought it was out in the middle of nowhere somewhere. When I tell them it's across the street from the park they all say, "What?!" By law the city only has to inform the people directly adjacent to the property in question, so they didn't tell very many people at all. It it weren't for Lainie, who hears everything, we still wouldn't know about it.

If this is such a great idea for our town, why didn't they tell us more about it, especially when it has the potential to drastically alter our quality of life? It seems sneaky and I feel like we're being railroaded,. It's disingenuous to complain about the apathy of Honeyville citizens when they keep us in the dark like this.

The thing we need to do is stop the city from rezoning the property to light industrial. Because even if the biodiesel plant doesn't work out, something else will. Hey, maybe a dog food factory! Wouldn't that be great? Ask the people in Ogden about it.

The thing that worries me about this is that if the zoning gets changed to light industrial, we're going to get big ugly factories across the street from the park and by our houses no matter what. This is a totally inappropriate place to put industry. People say it's the only place in Honeyville to put industry, and maybe that's true. If that's the case, then we need to think of a different way to bring money into the town. I'm guessing we'll be just fine without it. People say, "Honeyville's got to grow or die!" This is ridiculous. Honeyville has survived and thrived for a hundred years without "industry," and we can do without it for another hundred.

Biodiesel Ad Hoc Research Results:

There is a facility located in Isanti, Michigan that is the first and only factory of this kind, the kind BioPipe LLC is trying to put in to Honeyville, in the world. The company out there is called Ever Cat Fuels.

So I called some businesses near the Ever Cat Fuels factory just to see what people would say about it. I received both positive and negative responses. What follows are condensed notes from longer conversations with the businesses I spoke with...

Business Owner located very near to Ever Cat (didn't want his name or business used):

"I hate that place. You can't even open your windows on a hot night it smells so bad. At best it smells like french fries, at worst it smells like rancid oil.”

He said the site is not well maintained and he believes it will probably be out of business in a few years leaving a big warehouse and tanks as an eyesore. He said it is just a prototype factory used to sell licenses where the real money would be made (note: as of now there are no other factories currently in production using this process).

“I would never put a place like that in a residential area and I would fight tooth and nail to make sure it wasn't put near my house if I were you."

Bakery Owner (3 blocks away as reported by the owner):

"I've never smelled anything from the plant and have no problem with them. I drive past there twice a day to get here and have never smelled anything. I have no bias, I don't know them, and haven't had any problems with them at all. My granddaughter plays at the park a block away and I've never smelled it there either."

I then asked her how often her business is baking and she said she bakes 24/7 and that her neighbors love it because it always smells so good. I asked her if that might be why nobody ever thinks it smells bad near her business and she said "…that's probably right. Maybe you want to call some business on the other side of the factory and talk to them and see what they think--like the bowling alley. Maybe it's different for them; of course, I still don't smell it when I drive by the factory."

However, I also followed up by asking her if she would put a factory like that next to her house and she said "No. Especially, if I had little children. There isn't a smell, but it's still a factory."

She later noted that "it was originally reported that the factory would provide a number of jobs to our small community, but that didn't really materialize as most of the jobs were higher paying skilled jobs that went to people with expertise from outside the community."

She recommended I talk with Isanti City of the Chamber of Commerce to get more accurate information on that particular subject as she was just repeating what she had heard. (I haven't had to chance to do that yet).

Bowling Alley Employee (about 1/2 mile from the factory):

He started by noting he had already talked to someone from Utah about this and that he would tell me the same thing...

"I don't really notice it. You wouldn't know that it's even there except you can smell it when it gets really hot or when the wind blows, but it's not too bad."

After more discussion he told me I should probably call back later and discuss it with someone else, since he has had issues with his sense of smell in the past 2 or 3 years and can't really smell very well anymore.

So I called back and talked to a different employee who said:

"Oh no! By your house! Never!"

I asked why not and she said "because it stinks! It smells all the time, day or night. I have to drive past it twice a day and I hate driving by there. Some people say they can't smell it, but it smells all the time. It's not really a terrible smell; it's just a weird smell; a bad smell. I would never want to live next to it. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad if you don't have a sensitive nose, but I would never want to live by that place. Don't listen to people who say it doesn't stink, it does! I hope you don't have to live by one."

I asked her if she smelled it all the time at the bowling alley and she said they "smell it when it's hot or when the wind blows, but not all the time."

Rental business (5 blocks away same direction as bowling alley):

"I never smell anything from them. I take my son to the park by there all the time and have never smelled anything."

I asked him what the site was like and he said "it's clean and well-maintained. They rent stuff from us and they're really good guys."

I then asked him if he would want to live next to it and he said “no, it doesn’t belong near houses.”

introductory information

A man has approached Honeyville City and asked to have the property west of the railroad tracks on Highway 40, across the street from the park, rezoned as industrial, because he would like to build a biodiesel processing facility there. He does not own the property and is not a resident of Honeyville. He will be processing used cooking oil to make the biodiesel. He says that the process he is using is safer than that used at the biodiesel plant in Centerville that caught on fire and burned down, along with the autobody shop next door.

The Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended that the zoning change, and the City Council is in favor of it, because they feel that Honeyville is a "town of need," and that the rezoning will bring money into our town, so that we can pay for things like police.

I disagree with their assessment. I think Honeyville is a great place to live, and I like that we are away from stores and factories and the other trappings of city life. This is why I live in the country. And frankly, I don't think there's a need for a policeman in our town. What would he have to do besides give speeding tickets? But I understand that other people want to see Honeyville grow, and that is fairly reasonable. But managed, appropriate growth is what we need, not jumping through hoops for the first stranger who breezes into town and wants us to do him a favor. Not an industrial park on the main thoroughfare into town. If the zoning in that area must change, because there is no other place for business growth, then it should change to commercial, not industrial. Aside from property tax and possibly a couple of jobs within the plant itself, our town will see very little money from the biodiesel factory. Commercial ventures, on the other hand, have a much greater possibility of bringing much more money into our town from sales tax alone.

A fuel-processing facility, no matter how "clean" it is (this is unsubstantiated), does not belong next to houses, next to the park, and on the main road into town. Absolutely not. If we must grow, let's grow better, not uglier. Let's keep Honeyville a beautiful, rural place that people are proud to call their hometown.

The Flyer

WARNING for all residents of Honeyville…

• Want a Biodiesel Factory near the center of Honeyville?
• Want an Industrial Park next to the City Park?
• Want our town to smell like used fast food grease when it’s hot or windy?

We must act now! The Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended making 17 acres across from the city park an Industrial zone in part to allow for a biodiesel factory to be built there. We can stop it.

Public Hearing at the City Offices

Wednesday, May 11^th, 7:00 pm

Come help us protect our town! It’s up to you…