The morning news., 1897-08-15
DIXIE OIL CoMPANY's FACTORY.
A Contest in Council over Its LO-
cation.

/ cation.
! Alderman w. G. Charlton is now chief
watchman Of the city's affairs. Mayor
Meldrim is with his family in Gainesville
| Alderman S. P. Hamilton, chairman of
council. is In New York, and Vice Chair
man Owens is also In the north somewhere
! This left the city without an official head
| At a special meeting of council held yes
| terday afternoon Alderman Charlton was
! elected chairman pro TEN and was vested
with all the powers of the office
The purpose of the meeting was to con-
slider the petition Of the Dixie Oil Com
pany to be allowed to use the Easements
of the buildings at Nos go, Al, 413 and AS
River street, east, for the storing ana
manufacture of the products OF petroleum
The petition was presented in council
July % and referred to the fire commit
tee. 1t was referred by the fire commit
tee to Fire Chief Mcguire to report upon
as proVid ed in such cases. An adverse
report was rnade by Chief Maguire on Aug.
Is on the ground that the use of the base
ments for the purposes mentioned would
be in viola 4ion of the code, providing that
buildings used for the sale Of oil or huld
composed wholly or in part of any OF the
products ( # petroleum in a greater guam
tity than 80 gallons In any one place shan
provide a detached and properly ventlla-
ted buildhl lg, especially adapted for the
purpose, a nd further that If such a build
ing is les than fifty feet from any
other building Ii shall be
separated therefrom by a stone or brick
wall at lea It ten feet high. A further pro-
vision is Il lat no license shall be granted
for manuf5 cturing, refining, mixing or
storing or keeping petroleum or its prod
ucts on aIly wharf within the limits of
the city.
while this property is not directly upon
the wharf" the fire chief reported, lit
Is so very near it that I am of the opinion
that 1t would come under the head OF the
property referred to in this section. I'M
mediately north of this property you are
no doubt aware that the wharves are
used for the handling of lumber, a very
large quantity of which always stands
there; on the west of the building in which
1t IS proposed to handle petroleum and
its products is a cotton pickery Over
the building referred to is a mattress fac
tory, and on the east is a warehouse gen
orally used for the storage of cotton, IN
der the ordinance, l am, therefore, ad-
verse TO, and 1 feel it my duty to rec
ommelad that the petition of the Dixie Oil
Company be not granted"
In answer to the report of the chief the
oil com psany wrote Alderman Hull, chair
man of the fire committee, that, while
the bull ding referred to Immediately ad-
JOINS OlLsSFSs II Is separated on the west
by solid brick wall, without openings
nineteen inches thick to a hight of flf-
teen feet and twelve inches thick to a
hight of at least twenty-four feet addition
al. On the east the wall is nineteen inches
thick to hight of thirty-three feet, a
parapet wall of the same thickness ex-
tending three feet above the roof. LAS
River street divides the property from the
wharves,' states the communication, 1--WE
cannot see why it is any more on the
wharf than if it We're blocks away"
The arrangement of the building and
precautions which the company propose
to use are stated, including partially brick
ing up the doorWays and covering the
doors with metal. 1T IS not proposed to
refine any petroleum at this place, the
letter states, nor to store any Of the light
product, such as gasoline, napAha, etc.
The storage is TO be for lubricating and
burning oils and the compoundng of lu-
bricating oils only"
With these precautions it is contended
that the present ordinances will be com
piled with and the storage be even more
safer than that of the Tidewater oil build
ing, now used by the Standard, as only
the basement will be used while three
stories are used for this purpose in the
other building named. The mattress fac
tory on the second story of the building
Is to be moved and the place used for a
shipping office.
I'VE have stocks of lubricating and 9TH
en' oils now en- route and would there
fore thank your honorable committee to
give Ia 8 the authority to occupy the prem.
ises at the earliest possible moment"
The fire committee reported that it had
visited the premises named in the peti-
ton and reco nmended that the request be
granted. section $50 of MacDonells code to
be strictly comp lied with under supervis-
ion of the fire corllmittee. The report was
adopted.
The members preSent at the meeting
were Aldermen Chal 'lton, Davis, Smith,
Hull and Reid. a auort m under the rules.
being a majority of those present in the
city.