Officials debate 'repurposing yard' zoning

CLOVIS — Jack Muse of Clovis believes one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and 14 months ago sought a business license to turn that belief into a material repurposing business on a lot he owns on the 2800 block of Prince Street.

City officials, after a query into the property and its zoning laws, instead sent a cease and desist letter in January and proffered an agreement for Muse to sell the materials with a deadline that the COVID-19 pandemic has repeatedly shifted.

The city’s planning and zoning commission ratified the city’s decision in its Wednesday meeting, and gave Muse three more months to move the materials he still has on the lot.

City Attorney Jared Morris told commission members Muse’s collection of materials, under the city’s Unified Development Ordinance, was a home occupation business that fit under either equipment and material storage or junk and salvage yard. The code, Morris said, requires a completely enclosed building.

Rather than fine Muse for code violations, Morris said, the city has given deadlines to sell the remaining materials on the vacant lot next to his residence. That agreement ended in August.

The city asked the commission to ratify its decisions, while Muse asked for the commission to either approve his business license with a waiver for opaque fencing or extend the agreement with the city for another year.

Muse said he has moved about 70% of the merchandise under the agreement with the city, but notes his customer base has been hit hard by the pandemic. Muse said he’s appreciated cooperation from city staff throughout the process, but he simply disagrees with their classification of the business.

He didn’t believe the business was a home occupation, and said the only time he recalls ever using his residence is when a customer dropped off a check. All other times, they call him and he meets them on the lot.

“I don’t operate out of the house,” Muse said. “Customers don’t come within the house. I don’t believe the home occupation applies at all.”

He didn’t believe the business should be considered a salvage yard either, and notes that he has kept materials out of the landfill and provided citizens with products they couldn’t find anywhere else locally.

“This is a repurposing yard,” Muse said. “This is, I think, a contribution to our environment and it’s a contribution to the community to be able to come and to buy stuff.”

Commission member Marcus Smith said he was having a hard time finding a difference between Muse’s definition of a repurposing yard and a salvage yard, since Muse wasn’t the one doing the repurposing.

“You’re holding stuff for people to come get it and repurpose it themselves,” Smith said. “I’m struggling with the your definition of repurposing and what you say your land is used for.”

Muse said there was a clear difference in his mind between putting scrap metal through a smelter and selling culverts for a second life instead of putting them in the city landfill.

Smith asked Muse if he had acquired any new materials since the January cease and desist letter. Muse said he had received some piping materials, but that transaction was already underway before the city sent its letter.

Muse likened his situation to the Levine’s Building, which the city owned for 14 years before moving it on to a private buyer. He thinks the building is ugly while others remark on its potential. He wouldn’t argue his property is pretty, but Muse said customers have spoken highly of the merchandise they buy after first seeing it in his lot.

“I don’t think anybody is harmed by what I’m doing,” Muse said.

Chairman Steve North said the commission needed to stay focused on the matter before them to ratify the city’s decision.

“I don’t think anybody’s arguing the fact that material can be reused and reclaimed and used for something else,” North said. “Where you’re at, it’s not zoned for that.”

Smith said Muse had received various extensions, but wanted to make a good faith gesture to Muse.

“I think a three-month extension is where I’m at,” Smith said.

The commission made that motion, and voted 7-0 before adjourning with no other business on the agenda.