The deck behind Kim Fansher’s house on Messanie Street could give a teacher the perfect place to sit and smell the flowers during a summer away from the classroom.
It would be a lot better if the flowers hadn’t died and the summer breeze didn’t burn her throat.
Such has been the case since a tire retread facility opened about a month ago across an alley from Ms. Fansher’s backyard.
The St. Joseph City Council approved an ordinance in January that allowed Heartland Tire & Retread to open a facility to recycle tire retreads at 2401 Locust St., behind Ms. Fansher’s home.
Ms. Fansher invited City Council members and city staff to her home Wednesday to see her problem. She said a semi-trailer that catches tire particles pumped from inside the building puffs black smoke from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the work week. Ms. Fansher suspects this smoke is the cause of her problems.
The flowers in front of Ms. Fansher’s house bloom vibrantly. The ones along the side of her home grow progressively shorter from the front yard to the back. The irises and peonies in the backyard lay dead in a brownish heap.
Her health has not fared much better than the flowers. In the past month, breathing problems have forced her to get prescriptions for a variety of medicines, including two types of inhalers.
If something harmful is in the air, Ms. Fansher hates to think about what it could do to her, her son or her neighbors.
“I planted a garden, too. I don’t even know if I want to eat what comes out of it,” Ms. Fansher said.
Mayor Ken Shearin suggested the company move the trailer to the other side of the building where it borders an abandoned railroad right-of-way instead of a residential area.
“I know that doesn’t completely fix it, but it’s a whole heck of a lot better than what we’ve got now,” Mr. Shearin said, “If it was on the other side, maybe some of that soot gets stuck on the side of the building or gets caught in the trees instead of blowing over to her house.”
City Planner Mike Kellam said it may not be possible to move the trailer due to the way that facilities inside the building were set up. However, he agreed that changes must be made.
“We noticed that there are some violations that need to be addressed, some things that were there that shouldn’t have been there,” Mr. Kellam said. “We need to get with the property owner and the company to work something out.”
Brett Halsey owns the building and operates Servpro in the other side of the facility. He initially wanted the council to change zoning in the area from commercial to light manufacturing. City staff and the planning commission recommended that the council deny the change, at which point Mr. Halsey withdrew the request.
Later, the council passed an ordinance that reclassified tire retreading facilities as commercial instead of manufacturing, which allowed Heartland Tire to move in.
Ms. Fansher said she never had any problem with Servpro. Everything was fine until Mark Horstman, owner of Heartland Tire, leased a portion of the building this spring and began operations.
Neither Mr. Halsey nor Mr. Horstman could be reached for comment.
Clinton Thomas can be reached at clintonthomas@npgco.com.