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Recycling Business Or Junkyard? Century Public Hearing Today
June 28, 2010
The Town of Century will hold a public workshop today to discuss the rezoning of a piece of property as commercial or industrial so that a local man can continue to operate what he calls a “recycling business”.
George W. Philyaw has been cited by Escambia County Code Enforcement for his property at 120 Front Street because it is zoned residential which does not allow his type of business to operate. He has told the town council that he simply collects metal for recycling until he has a “load” and then it is sold.
While Philyaw says he is operating a recycling business, the Century Town Council has questioned if it is not actually a junk yard behind his privacy fence.
Council President Ann Brooks has asked each member of the council to individually visit the property to decide if they believe it is, or is not, a junkyard. Junkyards, under guidelines set forth in the town’s ordinances, are allowed in industrial zones.
Philyaw has agreed to deposit $600 with the town to be used for actual costs toward rezoning. If his rezoning request is denied, he will still forfeit the town’s actual costs.
The Century Town Council will hold a public workshop today at 11 a.m. the town hall to discuss a proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment to change the future land use on the property at 120 Front Street from residential to either commercial or industrial. The workshop is open to the public, and the public is invited to submit written or verbal comments for consideration.
Comments
28 Responses to “Recycling Business Or Junkyard? Century Public Hearing Today”
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I drive by this place everyday and I say JUNKYARD !!!!!
Steve it sounds like you are a person that could really care less if a place is clean up or not. And as for the job he has I could care less if he was a Lawyer or what, but no mater what he dose, he needs to clean up that place. There is no problem with them in there front yard, I am just saying they need to clean it up because there is so much ( junk ). If you are such a good friend, help him clean it up. But the real problem here is that this is a residential area, not a place for a business, especially a junk yard. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE IN ( RESIDENTIAL AND A BUSINESS PLACE. ) The Town of Century will surely get worst if they turn this place into a business. The citizens of Century need to speak up and let the town know that they are tired of junk up places and want there town clean up.
Amen Maggie!!!
This world needs a lot more positive people instead of so many hateful ones.
It would make life a whole lot better for everyone!
This site is for commenting ON THE STORY not to tear down and humiliate people. If you get such a thrill from doing that to other people, then maybe you should sit back and take some serious self inventory~and learn to be nicer!
Also, maybe you should go back and reread the rules for making posts on here.
William is a hard worker, to the best of his ability, with his disabilities. He has helped so many people; he’s the type to give someone the shirt off his back to help them. We know William personally, and he would NOT ‘pay off’ anyone for any reason. The young man staying there does help William with loads and mechanicing in exchange for staying there.
Any one who knows anything about hauling metal for money…if it’s a load of ‘mixed’ metals you don’t get much for it, but if it is a full load of one type you get a lot more for it.
The council needs to get off his back and tend to their own and quit being such bullies. Quit oppressing the small man that may not be as financially well off as they are!
If you ask me…I think the yard right down from him with all the artificial flowers stuck all out in the front yard looks very tacky ~ JUNKY!
Maybe people should get all the facts, not just opinions, before jumping on someone they don’t even know!
And about the kids playing in the road…you go down to about any subdivision in Pensacola that has kids, and you have to come to a complete stop and wait for them to get out of the road where they are playing ball, etc…and I’m referring to ‘nice’ ‘fancy’ subdivisions.
And it’s up to William and his family to where they want their pinic table, chairs, or swing to hang out~this is supposed to be America~land of the free! Their front yard is the shady part of the yard…it would take a moron to want to set them up and hang out in the boiling sun in the summer…so what does that say about the one who said they should be moved to the back yard???
We appreciate all the mechanic help he has given us over the years!
I am only 17 and have epilepsy so no I can’t drink or drive nor would I if I could! But I did just donate all my coke cans and scrap metal to a needy family. Don’t be so silly, I did’t say it was ok for anyone to drink and drive.
Im just saying that NorthEscambia.Com is used as a forum to put people down. That the legal system and our heavely father will judge them and that we should not! THese people are having enough trouble without all the negative responses posted on this site.
We should all love one another. Maybe you should help this gentleman find another job since they are so hard to come by and he would remove his recycling business.
Think of it positive things he is doing by recycling used metal to keep the earth clean. I agree it should all be behind his privacy fence and taken to the recyclers on a regular basis but ….every man has a right to make a living.
maybe you should all help this guy out and drive by and throw out your beer cans
and coke cans so he’ll have enough for a load and clean the dang place up.
maggie, your the same one who though driving drunk with your 7 year old was
ok also, were you not?
Why don’t you grab a few beers drive over this guys place and live there then!
No one else wants to.
Rezoning? In the Historic District? The district is hanging by a thread to stay qualified. Making it permissable for a junk yard to stay might just take the thread and break it in two.
If he is willing to pay toward the costs for the actually rezoning, I am sure he will follow guidelines set up by the city. This could actually set up the area so that more businesses could open up. Everyone should be allowed to make a living and rezoning laws are changed all the time for small businesses.
Take a look at all your dog grooming and hair cutting businesses inside the residentual areas of Flomation that you are not complaining about. Should all these nice people have to move their businesses, Im sure they are not in a comercial zoned area. Just because you dont like his business you cant just pick on one person, remember you could be affecting alot of other small businesses if Mr Phylaw decides to bring this issue before the council.
Just because code enforcement has gone out and this man refuses to clean up this mess, the town council wants to consider rezoning…what a joke…this man should have to clean up just like ever other citizen that code enforcement has told to clean up…this is just what happen to code enforcement the last time the town had it…the council was elected to make tough decesions and i know this is one but this man should not be treated any different than any other citizen…he should clean up
Century’s past mayor had started a campaign to work on “cleaning up” and beautifying the town, while enforcing certain codes. I have seen an improvement and am encouraged by it. (Love the changes to the road side park on Hway 29). Don’t stop now. The businessman should abide by the laws in place. You owe it to the people who elected you to office. Have a heart to the people living in the residential area and have to drive by the place. Maybe the businessman could leaseor rent a small area in a properly zoned area and use it as a business expense on his tax return.
If we allow William to run an junkyard on frontstreet , maybe we can start an dump at the old millsite….we drive by there everyday wild children running everywhere …William also does mechanic work there, where i kno of other familys that had to move from the area because the code enforment says no mechanic work in an resdital area .but william is been getting by with this about 3 yrs and my question is… who’s pocket is he fatting to stay there and not being shut down?it is an eye sore ,and we wonder why no bussiness want to be in century… drive drown front and look at the first two places and u might find ur answer. send an under cover officer in and ask him if it is an junkyard and he will say yes,,, so do ur job Major
Century girl,
Surely you jest! I am not even close, and never have been to make that kind of money. I got the ride, because I was in the right place at the right time. That’s all. Heh heh.
Sue B
REGARDING:
“Private property shouldn’t be zoned by the government. The government doesn’t own it, they shouldn’t have zoned it.”
I agree but there is a problem: once people form a political unit which includes zoning, any who move into that town afterward do so knowing they are subject to the laws and regulations they impose on each other.
Thus, if it already had zoning, you should accept the zoning.
If it already had pig farms, you should accept the smell, sights, sounds.
David in Bluff Springs
with neighbors with donkeys
and happy about it
So does it require 1/4 or 1/2 or all of your yard to be completely covered before you have a load, that entire yard is a junk. And Reply to So Sad, those people are completely capable of cleaning it up just too lazy, I know for a fact aside from the grown man “running a business there” that there is also a young man in his twenties residing there. There isn’t any can’t to that situation its won’t…. People that choose to live like that its there own fault.
Well get you limo out and take a ride. I vote we invited the judge to move there maybe he might can improve it.
Well Sue B I can honestly say you want find that the case here. Just take a drive and see!!!! I’m sure beauty is in the eye of the beholder but in this case one man’s JUNK is still another man’s JUNK. I can promise you that!! Junk is junk anyway you look at it!!!!
O I C what you mean. I meant a fence that hides it all.
What a shame. Once in Japan, My husband and I were invited to the house of a Judge that had been appointed to a higher position. He had a party at his house and sent a limo to pick up my husband and I and my friend who had been teaching English to the judges, and her husband. I had gone with her one day to that class. I guess they liked me.
My first limo ride. I was prepared to be driven to a place of great beauty. Instead we found ourselves being driven down what looked like a narrow alley with gray fences on both sides of the alley way. But then, the gates opened in one of these gray fences, and there behind it was a beautiful Japanese house, with garden, water, bridge and all. What a nice surprise. Just threw this in because it came to mind when I read about putting a fence around all that ugly. What contrast! HUH?
I’m sorry if the town let’s this one change then who’s next. I’m sure this does not help the value of the land there where these people have their homes around it. I for one see it ever day on my way to work. So I can relate to how bad this looks. I also agree with YellarHammer. We have businesses in century that pay there taxes to us which help run our town, humm is he going to pay all of back what he owes us. He admitted he ran this for 3 years at a meeting. I wonder has he paid century any taxes at all? But I say before you try to understand this you need to ride by and ask do you want this beside you or even in your community. If he want this business then go out of the community where your not hurting everyone else that lives here.There again all of these people built there homes in the fifties and this was not there. This is not fair to them so please council think before you vote . He bought a home NOT a business.
It doesn’t matter if you are on welfare or not. Anyone can keep a clean place. My goodness if they would just clean up the front yard and I really mean clean it up. They could make enough room in there back yard for all there tables ,grill, chairs, just all kind of junk laying around on the ground. Maybe the children could play there instead of being in the street or across the road. It is dangerous the way the children play out in the road. Also the junk they have across the street, there is so much junk loaded on trucks and trailer’s. I do pray for the safety of the children. But if you rezone it is going to get so much worst. If they are not going to clean this place up, they need to put a 10 foot high fence around the WHOLE place and I am even talking about the front door, and have a big gate to come in and out where they can close it back up, so know one has to look at such trash.
I can see your points, but my first reaction was joy that someone in Century actually works. Now, before you get all mad………I know there are others in Century that work, and I salute them. However, this was not the rule, the 5 years I worked there. There were eyesores in many places, and many many on welfare. I even heard two young teen girls talking about how many babies they needed to “get” enough money to live on. Really! If this man has a privacy fence, then what is the eye sore? Does he need a bigger and higher fence? If so, this seems to be the simplest answer to the problem. Since I have not personally seen the eyesore, I do not know. I agree that others should not be subjected to such things in their neighborhood if it is zoned residential. Perhaps someone could clue me in to the condition and utility of this man’s “privacy fence.”
Just another short thought. . . .everyone better go to the meeting next Monday to voice their objectiions to this re-zoning idea. If they do re-zone it, they’re doing it for ONE resident. . . .so the other residents better kick into gear and stop them!
I don’t quite understand this. He lives in a “residential” area and is basically breaking the law by keeping his property a continual eyesore. Why in the world would the council give ANY thought to re-zoning it. . . . so that this one man can keep his property and the neighborhood looking this way??? He should be ordered to clean it up immediately or pay the consequences.
I can’t believe the Town would even consider rezoning this property. This road is in the historical district. This is such a nasty disgusting looking place. I feel sorry for the ones that have to live there and can’t do a thing about it.You turn on Front Street from North Century Blvd, and you come up on this, you think oh my goodness what have I come into. Please clean this place up. It makes you think of the advertisement of The American Indian standing on the side of the road and someone drives by and throws a piece of paper out the car window, and a tear falls from his face. But this place is so bad that the American Indian would fall to his knees and cry till there was no stopping. Please keep America CLEAN !!! And if any of the Council members vote for this, they should be VOTED RIGHT OUT OF THE CENTURY TOWN COUNCIL.
Yes, this is a junk yard in my eyes and the heck with the back taxes let him take them and go somewhere else. I’m sorry this place makes the whole town look bad.
Private property shouldn’t be zoned by the government. The government doesn’t own it, they shouldn’t have zoned it.
If he is operating a recycling business the re-zone the property and require the proper license and get back taxes he owes the city.