Back in February of this year, I posted an article on how badly broken our “Industrial Zoning” process is broken in the USA. The article was titled: “FAILURES of true “facility siting” – our “zoning” process is broken and dangerous!” and it was about a chemical plant’s pleas to the city council to not rezone 22 acres next door to them so that a developer can build five (5) four-story buildings containing 308 housing units with a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, a five-story hotel with 122 rooms, a 15,000-square-foot retail building, a 10,800-square-foot pharmacy, and a 4,000-square-foot restaurant. The plant lost their debate and the council approved the project. Since then I have learned of a half-dozen more cases where city councils have voted to approve rezoning for housing or large commercial (non-industrial) developments next to serious chemical plants. This new case, also in FL but a different city, approved a nearly 500-unit apartment complex to be built next to an active chlorine plant.
The 4-2 vote came after officials for the developer argued that they had modified their plan significantly by moving two apartment buildings away from the plant and reducing the number of units by about 150. They also said concerns about the possible dangers of a chemical leak hadn’t been backed up by “expert testimony”.