Recycler referendum

Last Thursday (Dec. 1), activist group Move the Junkyard delivered to the Chico City Clerk’s Office the signatures for a referendum effort that could put Chico Scrap Metal’s fate in the hands of voters.

The referendum needs 5,001 signatures from registered Chico voters to qualify, and the group reported collecting 9,613. The Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s Office has 30 working days to validate the signatures.

If certified, the referendum will roll back an Oct. 18 Chico City Council decision to allow the business to stay on East 20th Street by amending the municipal code and a 2006 neighborhood plan that called for relocation. That decision would then be put to Chico voters in November 2018 or by special election.

Move the Junkyard spokesman Mark Stemen said he hopes the referendum will reopen negotiations on moving the business.