SALEM City council turns down zoning recommendation

Area residents lobbied against the rezoning.
SALEM -- Complying with the wishes of many residents, city council rejected a recommendation by the planning commission regarding a zoning issue.
Council voted Tuesday not to go along with the commission's recommendation to rezone a nearly five-acre parcel to a designation that would have allowed construction of eight triplexes containing a total of 24 apartments.
The property is along West Wilson Street near Dodge Drive.
Henry Spack of Salem owns the property and wanted to build the triplexes.
Residents against it: Many residents living near the project area lobbied council against the rezoning, expressing fear that the triplexes would place too many apartments in too small an area.
After council's vote rejecting the rezoning, Spack said he may go ahead and build duplexes on the land, which is allowed by the zoning.
Spack expressed dissatisfaction with council's decision.
"It's a bad situation when you can't use your own land," he said.
Trash pickup: In other matters, council authorized service Director Joe Julian to advertise for bids with a refuse hauler to conduct a curbside trash pickup.
The pickup is held annually in the city to allow residents to get rid of unwanted junk for no direct charge.
The city foots the bill, which generally costs about $15,000 to $18,000. The money comes from the city's general fund.
Julian said he hopes the pickup can be conducted near the end of August.