Mar-Jac's Randy Bruce maintained that the company had no plans for the land, other than to consolidate the plots with two already zoned for light industrial into one tract.
"I'm talking about just saving a little money and trying to put four pieces of property together and saving a little headache," said Bruce, "A lot of it's about trying to reestablish some trust with Lula. We don't want to do anything and will not do anything that's going to harm their way of life."
Opponents were skeptical of that claim, saying it was improper to rezone property without an intended land use.
"It's just a land use issue," said neighbor Grady Locke, "When Mar-Jac couldn't state what their intentions were of using the land, I don't understand why we even met. Land use was the only issue here, and when they can't tell you what they're going to use it for, to me that killed it
Joseph Thomas, who lives across the tracks from the property in question, is wary of the company after the 2002 dispute over a feed mill, eventually built in Maysville.
"If you've got something like what Mar-Jac tries to put in, like what they tried to put in before, it's going to be a bad thing for us," said Thomas, who doubts Bruce's claim that Mar-Jac has no plans for the land.
"I think that they know what they want to do, but they don't want nobody to know," he said, "I think it's a secret. It's like, 'Hey! I've got a million dollars in this bag, here, you can have,' and then when you tote it out to your vehicle, it's a bag of thrash. I think that's what they're giving us. They're giving us a bag of trash."
Bruce insisted that the company does not plan to develop the land, "We're not going to do anything. We want to be these good neighbors."
He said that any future use will not be objectionable either, "It's not going to be a feed mill, a chicken plant or a manufacturing plant. It's going to be a little industrial park, like you see out here at Hilton. It's going to be more industrial-type retail. Not many industries are going to be able to locate or would locate in this area."
Lula City Council plans to vote on the proposed annexation and rezoning at their next meeting on February 20.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/2/116345