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Vi-COR reps flee NIT’s tough questions as pressure mounts on city to act on smell

Editorial by Matt Marquardt –

MASON CITY – Neighbors who live nearby Vi-COR’s production plant on South Benjamin Avenue are steaming mad about the on-going smell the plant is emitting.

The City of Mason City has allowed Vi-COR to continue production at their plant despite admissions from city officials that the plant is not in compliance with zoning ordinances.

I caught up with Vi-COR neighbor Ralph Madison Thursday afternoon just outside the plant to observe the smokestacks pumping out a white mist and hear from him the concerns of his neighbors.

(PHOTO: Ralph Madison of Mason City was approached Thursday afternoon by what appeared to be Vi-COR rep’s who offered to answer questions… until NIT started asking them.)

“I am blown away that the City refuses to enforce its own codes,” Madison said, speaking of the zoning ordinances that govern the behavior of businesses and residences in the city. In this case, Vi-COR on S. Benjamin Ave. is in a Z6-R (Restricted Industrial District) zone where it is written in city code that “facilities whose manufacturing, assembly, storage and distribution activities do not create appreciable nuisances or hazards, or that require a pleasant, hazard-and nuisance-free environment. It is intended that the permitted functions be compatible and not detrimental to adjacent properties.”

City Administrator Brent Trout confirmed on Wednesday that the Vi-COR plant is out of compliance, and several other neighbors claim to have spoken with At-Large City Council member Alex Kuhn who they say told them that the plant is not complying with the zoning ordinance.

However, enforcing the city’s codes is not that easy, as the city intends to keep a pro-business attitude and protect the new reputation it is trying to build as pro-business.

Trout said the city is hesitant to shut the plant down until it can comply with the zoning codes due to about 5 jobs he said are at the plant and because the company has orders coming in for the product they are producing.  “The odor is stronger than it has been,” Trout said.  “We are working with the neighbors and Vi-COR to find a solution.”

One of the proposed solutions is for the plant to operate on a limited basis until a special piece of equipment called a thermal oxidizer is installed, rumored to be done in late July.

Trout said that Vi-COR has ordered a thermal oxidizer to eliminate the smell from the plant.  Trout could not say where the oxidizer is on order from, nor could a person who seemed to be a Vi-COR rep that left in a hurry today as questions started coming his way, even though he offered to answer questions.

The folks in the Briarstone neighborhood claim that the smell today was “very strong.”  They say they have been given promise after promise since as early as 2007 when they met with Vi-COR executives to air their concerns.

These Mason City citizens will remain in limbo until City Hall decides which is more important: The rule of law or appeasing industry.

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