Court voids ZBoA ruling

For those wondering if Rogelio Peralez’s recycling center on St. Louis Street is going to go the distance or pack it up, uncertainty is the one thing of which anyone can be sure.

For the past eight months, Glenda Gordon of Gonzales has been insistent that the recycling center should be located outside the Texas Historical Museum District. Despite a Dec. 12 ruling in her favor by 25th Judicial District Court Judge Dwight E. Peschel, she has yet to achieve that goal.

Despite several meetings, court dates and last week’s ruling, the fate – or, at least, the appropriate location – of the recycling center has yet to be decided.

In her petition to the court, Gordon was seeking appellate review of the Gonzales Zoning Board of Adjustment’s decision in April that approved the recycling center location at 1204 St. Louis Street within the parameters of the first-ever Texas History Museum District.

While Peschel ruled that the ZBoA decision was null, he denied Gordon’s request for an injunction against the administrative body.

The final hearing in the case was Dec. 2, and evidence was taken and testimony heard by Peschel.  After a lengthy hearing, the Court decided to take the case under advisement to conduct some additional research prior to rendering a decision.

Gordon had suffered a temporary setback on Sept. 9 when her lawsuit against failed to make the court docket.

Gordon maintains that she never wished Peralez’s business any harm, but that her lawsuit was based simply on location and how the ZBoA went about approving the location.

“It is all about procedure,” she said. “It is not personal. We’re going to do it till we do it right.”

Since Gordon resides outside of the immediate zone in stipulated in her lawsuit, her only recourse to appeal the ZBoA’s decision was to go through the district court. If she lived within the zone, she could have simply taken it before the Gonzales City Council.

In issuing his ruling, Peschel cited a Dallas Court of Appeals decision quoting “requirements … must be complied with in detail and each must be rigidly performed.”

The judge’s decision was based on what he determined to be the ZBOA’s lack of appropriate application procedures leading up to the approval of Peralez’s Specific Use Permit granting Peralez the authority to open and operate a recycling center, which should be zoned manufacturing, at a commercially-zoned location.

“The judge agreed with our argument that the ZBOA did not follow the Gonzales Code of Ordinances in the granting of Mr. Peralez’s application, and, therefore, was contrary to the laws established by the city in its own code of ordinances,” said Eddie Escobar, Gordon’s attorney handling the case. “It was always our position that if the city of Gonzales wishes to enact laws by and through its code of ordinances, the city should be required to follow those rules just as any city resident would have to.”

Escobar added that there is no place for political favors in abiding with the Gonzales Code of Ordinances, and that the city and citizens alike should be held to identical standards.

Whether or not the center is going to stay where it is or be moved has yet to be decided, and Gordon has declined to comment on the matter. Despite repeated attempts, Peralez has not been available for comment.