A group of residents is concerned about Stuff Recycling’s request to rezone more than a dozen acres on Clintonville Road for its operation.

The company, based at 6169 Lexington Road, is looking to purchase 12.5 acres to act as a buffer and storage space, business owner Jerry Joiner told the Clark County Fiscal Court Wednesday.

Stuff requested the property be rezoned from A-1 agricultural to B-4 business, the same as the rest of the Stuff property.

The matter was to be discussed Tuesday night at the Winchester-Clark County Planning Commission, but the matter was rescheduled for September, planning director Rob Jeffries said.

Tresa Bridges, who lives on Clintonville Road, said she is concerned about the environmental impact, along with a 2012 decision by the planning commission that the property would be grandfathered in as being zoned B-4 for business. One of the conditions, though, was that Stuff not expand its business beyond its 10-acre site.

“I don’t think any of us bargained on that becoming a junkyard out there,” Bridges said. “We had a huge fire (at Stuff). Everyone saw it and no one did anything about it.”

On June 9, a fire started in a 40-foot tall pile of material including cars, lawn mowers and mattresses to be recycled. After three days, millions of gallons of water, hundreds of gallons of fuel, and personnel and equipment from nearly three dozen agencies were used to bring the blaze under control.

Some question the 2012 decision to allow Stuff to remain at its current location with a B-4 zone.

“When we started looking at it, Stuff shouldn’t be there,” resident Gardner Wagers said. “It should be in the industrial park to begin with.”

Wagers said Stuff has expanded significantly in recent years, but Joiner said the company has not expanded beyond its 10-acre property.

“We have invested millions of dollars in the last few years,” he said, all within the existing property. “The property we have a contract on is not to expand the scrap yard one inch.”

The plan, he said, would be to use it as a buffer for neighboring properties, a parking area for trucks or or possibly build a retention pond. It would also add a second access point to the property, he said.

“We’re not looking to expand the scrap yard one inch, let alone 12 and a half acres,” Joiner said.