Board recommends special‑use permit for pallet recycling business with quarterly fire inspections and compliance conditions

The Planning and Zoning Board recommended City Council approve a special‑use permit allowing pallet recycling at 201 South Cedar Avenue, subject to multiple compliance conditions and quarterly inspections by the Valley Center Fire Department.

Staff said the operation had already begun on the site and that city building and fire inspectors had identified items that must be corrected. Staff recommended approval of SU202501 contingent on the facility coming into compliance with building, fire and zoning regulations; staff also proposed that the fire department perform quarterly safety inspections and that the zoning administrator be notified of any change in building or business ownership.

Owners and operators said the business currently grinds unusable pallet material into mulch but does not store mulch on site; operators said mulch is loaded into trailers and hauled off. Owner/operator Terry Sowers described typical hours as Monday‑Friday (about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), with summertime activity sometimes concluding between 3 and 4 p.m.; he said Saturday work is rare. Sowers said a grinding run to fill a trailer generally takes about four to five hours and that large existing pallet piles on site would be ground and removed within several weeks.

Residents told the board they experienced dust, and several speakers raised fire‑safety concerns citing regional pallet/mulch fires and past industrial incidents at nearby properties. Staff said at least one neighboring site’s dust‑collection malfunction — not the facility in question — had contributed to dust reported by residents earlier, and staff noted that the malfunction has been fixed. The owner said part of the building already has a sprinkler system and that work is under way to extend sprinklers and upgrade electrical service; he also said he had engaged an engineer and fire‑protection vendor and expected to bring the site into compliance.

Valley Center Fire Captain Nick Banning briefed the board on local fire‑safety rules for pallet sites: pile size, maximum stack height and access aisles must meet standards and, if those standards are met and maintenance occurs, the risk of spread and large conflagrations is reduced. The fire department told the board it would enforce the conditions through quarterly inspections.

After more than an hour of public comment and discussion, a board member moved to recommend approval with the stated conditions. The board voted in favor on a voice vote with no recorded opposition. The board’s recommendation will go to City Council for final action.