Hillsboro objects to shipping container facility
Staff writer
Hillsboro City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask that the county deny a Rose Hill man’s application to build a facility to modify shipping containers a mile south of the city.
City administrator Matt Stiles said that when he saw Quentin Heidt’s application for a county conditional-use permit, the plan raised questions.
Hillsboro’s strategic plan proposes that the location be used for residential purposes. Heidt’s business would be better placed in an industrial park, Stiles said.
Stiles also said he also didn’t like the way the business would appear to people who enter Hillsboro from Indigo Rd.
Heidt’s application said the business would modify new and recycled shipping containers to customers’ specifications.
“The proposed business creates new issues with appearance, considering the storage and remodeling of shipping containers,” Stiles said. “Again, this is better suited to an industrial area.”
Residents of Willow Glenn subdivision north of the proposed location are strongly against the proposal, Stiles told council members.
“I’d kind of like having that business in town,” council member Brent Driggers said, but agreed that he thought the proposed location wasn’t the right one.
The planning commission will meet to consider Heidt’s application at 7 p.m. Dec. 22.
Under law, cities can have influence on county zoning near their borders, but Hillsboro has never formally asked for that power, which must be requested.
In other business Tuesday, council members:
- Approved a conditional use permit for a house at 208 W. B St., owned by Ronald and Denaye Dies, to be used as a bed and breakfast.
- Listened to Brook Carroll of Kansas Power Pool make recommendations for electricity charges for the coming year, but the council took no action.