County officials are ready to clean up the remains of a planned salvage yard south of Winfield if the salvage company is not done moving scrap metal out by next week, county manager Leroy Alsup said.
"They’ve made some progress," he said. "But we have a crew scheduled to go in Monday. We’ll remove whatever is left to remove."
This winter, Jay Marks, owner of American Scrap and Can in Wichita, announced plans to expand into Winfield and open a recycling center. He leased a building just west of Quail Ridge Golf Course.
City and county officials protested almost immediately because of the location of the facility and because it is a gateway to Winfield. Marks was told to clean up and go through the process of applying to the county to operate a salvage yard.
"To date he has not sought the county’s approval to establish a salvage yard at that location," Alsup said. "And really I think the commission would be hard pressed to approve a salvage yard at that site. You have Quail Ridge there, the two hotels and that corridor is one of the best assets the county has."
Commissioners decided to take action to clean up the site because the company did not make sufficient progress, Alsup said.
Earlier this year, Marks told NewsCow that his intent was to help the county go green and offer a place for recycling. He said the facility would have a fence to conceal scrap metal. Those plans were halted when he was ordered by the county to clean up the site.
