Scio Zoning Board Denies Fill Site Bid - Township Residents Overwhelmingly Oppose Move In Informal Vote

Scio Zoning Board Denies Fll Site Bid

Township Residents Overwhelmingly Oppose Move In Informal Vote

The Scio Township Zoning Board last night turned down Ann Arbor's request for rezoning of the Killins gravel pit land for a sanitary fill for garbage and refuse disposal.

The unanimous board action in recommending against establishment of the fill was in reality little more than a formality after what transpired at a jam-packed public hearing only an hour before the board vote.

In the hearing, conducted at Sullivan School on Jackson Rd., Scio township residents conducted their own vote on the fill.

Only One In Favor

Only one of the more than 100 residents present lifted a hand in favor of its establishment.

The Scio residents’ opposition to the project marked the second time in a year that rural property owners have blocked the fill.

Aroused Pittsfield township residents turned down the city's plans to locate it there in a similar hearing last August.

The tenor of last night's hearing in Scio township was clearly 1established within a few minutes after it began.

Film Shown

The Scio residents gave token attention to a Health Department film showing operation of the fill. As soon as the film was over, Bob Killins, son of Glenn Killins, one of the leaders of the fight against the project, jumped to his feet and demanded that a vote be taken among those present.

"Everyone has made up their mind already,” Killins told the zoning board. "There’s no need to talk about this anymore.”

City-County Health Director Otto K. Engelke stepped in before the vote could be taken and argued passionately that a sanitary fill would solve Scio township’s own problem of garbage and refuse disposal.

Scio residents countered with claims that the fill would chop adjacent property values in half, create traffic problems, and contaminate water supplies.

Residents Unswayed

Even after Dr. Engelke read a letter from the Michigan Department of Health which stated flatly that the chance of a fill on the Killins gravel pit property affecting drinking water was "very remote,” the residents remained unswayed.

"Let those city fellows come out and drink our water after they put that dump in," one indignant property-owner shouted.

An hour after the hearing began, residents took a vote. Almost every hand in the room was raised against the project as only one person registered a favorable vote.

Ald. Lawrence H. Ouimet, chairman of the Ann Arbor City Council’s public works committee, said he would await a formal report from the zoning board before announcing the city’s next move. 1

Condemnation Asked

The city of Ann Arbor this morning filed a petition asking the condemnation of the Killins gravel pit land for use as a site for the city’s proposed sanitary fill.

Under law, however, the property cannot be condemned—and sold to the city at a jury-set price—until and unless it is rezoned for use as a fill site.