TOLEDO – Following a brief summer break for Toledo City Council, representatives jumped back in on Tuesday, July 15, voting on ordinances 223-25, 224-25 and 225-25.
Controversy has surrounded these ordinances, which proposed the rezoning of areas west of Byrne Road and Airport Highway to general industrial. The past two times the ordinances came up for a vote, all three were tabled.
Rocky Ridge Development LLC proposed the rezoning back in May at the planning and zoning committee, but began to suffer backlash from the South Toledo neighborhood the proposed rezoning would affect.
Mayoral hopeful Roberto Torres initially made headlines for interrupting a Toledo City Council Agenda Review by presenting petitions from South Toledoans, and on Tuesday was able to celebrate a small win as all three ordinances were voted down.
Before voting commenced, Toledo City Council representative for District 2, Adam Martinez, admonished his fellow council members to vote against all three ordinances.
“I would encourage all of my colleagues to vote this down,” he said, and was not disappointed.
Only two council members—Vanice Williams, District 4, and John Hobbs III, District 1— voted for ordinance 223-25, which proposed rezoning on 4004 Angola Road, where Rocky Ridge Development admitted it had begun mining without the proper zoning. And according to residents, the company had increased their mining activity in the months preceding the vote.
Williams was available for comment after the meeting. “I voted on the first one, because I wanted the project to be finished and cost effective and be done with it at the end of the year. Just getting it finished,” she said.
The City of Toledo had contracted with Rocky Ridge Development to dispose of spent lime, used in the water purification process.
The other two ordinances, which proposed an expansion to the mining were unanimously voted down. Williams said, “I don’t want them to expand; y’all causing too much trouble. Just finish it and get out the way.”
Residents affected by the mining stepped outside of the council chambers to celebrate after the voting was finished on the three ordinances.
“We came in here thinking it would be held off again,” said Jason and Kelly McKown, two South Toledo residents.
“I think they finally listened to the residents. That we don’t want it [the mining development] in that area,” Kelly McKown said. “It’s not good for a residential area.”
Torres could be seen hugging affected citizens in the foyer of 1 Government Center.
When asked about the city council vote, Torres said he was excited for the community, and continued on to say, “I ran [for mayor], because in this city, it tends to be a politics that’s governed by the special interests.”
When Rocky Ridge Development went before the planning and zoning committee, they admitted to beginning mining as far back as 2021-2022.
Bill Hoag, who grew up near the area and owns property near the mining development, said he reported the mining to the city four years ago. “They were told right in the very beginning and still kept going,” he said.
“Why you letting them break the codes for three years? Who was telling them not to do anything?” Hoag said, and called for accountability. “It’s somebody in the city. Who told them it’s okay in the first place? Who allowed it [the mining] to go on without stopping it?”
WTOL reported that the FBI had been looking into the circumstances surrounding the mining near Angola Road for years without proper zoning.
“I think this was a well organized fight from the residents, and that’s what service is about,” Martinez said after the meeting.
Hoag mentioned an effort to find a different use for the land that escaped rezoning.
We’re actively involved right now as a group to try to find developers to step in to do something better with the area,” he said.
13 ABC reported the stop work order was posted on the 4004 Angola Road property Wednesday, which should stop the mining in the area.
