Plans for South Toledo auto salvage yard scrapped for now

3/16/2009

A controversial plan to start building a Pull-A-Part auto salvage yard in South Toledo this summer has been put on hold due to the nationwide economic situation, a company official said Monday.

"We've temporarily put it on hold," said Steve Levetan, senior vice president for Do-It-Yourself Pull-A-Part Used Auto Parts, based in Atlanta. "We fully expect to be able to move forward, but I can't tell you when."

Toledo City Council in early January approved a special-use permit for a Pull-A-Part facility on 19 acres of industrial zoned land that borders residential along South Westwood Avenue near the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

The project had faced strong objections from neighbors, who argued at several public hearings that the salvage yard would bring crime, pollution, traffic, and noise and lower their property values.

Pull-A-Part has until Jan. 6 of next year to begin work at the South Toledo site before its special use permit will expire. The company may request a six-month extension from city council.

Mr. Levetan said the Toledo site is one of "several" planned new locations in the country that Pull-A-Part has put on hold because of the economy.

"We fully expect to be able to pick pretty much all of those back up," he said. "Whether it's six months, a year, a year and a half, we just don't know.