(WSBT) A company that wants to rezone land for a biodiesel plant is trying to get neighbors on its side. The property is on State Road 23 near Mayflower Road. It's surrounded by homes on three sides.

Bio Oil Enterprise says it choose that location because of the surrounding industry.

Neighbors say when a steel company was located on adjacent property, there were no trees or wildlife and pollution was a problem. They say they've worked too hard to restore the neighborhood to let a biodiesel plant ruin it.

"It's nice for mice and birds and deer, and I saw two pheasants yesterday which I've never seen before," said Barb Ettl.

Her neighbor, Dave McCubbins, grew up on Dollar Lake. He says this is not the place for a biodiesel plant.

"There's always the risk of contamination, a tank rupturing," he said.

But say their first concern is truck traffic increasing.

"Everyone in my family pulling out of here, we've all been hit and you can't see," said Ettl.

Neighbors say their biggest fear is once the land is rezoned from commercial to manufacturing, it will open the area up to other plants and manufacturing companies.

"Once you rezone to manufacturing and the biodiesel plant doesn't work — what are we going to get? It's too late," said Ettl.

Bio Oil Enterprise is trying to convince neighbors otherwise. The plant would employ 10 people to produce 2 million gallons a year.

"That in turn would be four trucks in, four trucks out. You would have an average of a truck and a half a day," said Richard Sutton, Bio Oil Enterprise.

But neighbors asked how the company would make money when other bio-diesel plants aren't.

The only thing the company would offer was reassurance.

"We don't want to affect our neighbors. I want you guys to understand too the biodiesel is a good thing. It's not going to affect your environment," said Sutton.

But that wasn't good enough for County Councilman Dennis Schafer.

"We don't have the answers to many, many things," he said.

And he says if they aren't answered: "I'd say no," said Schafer.

The Area Plan Commission has forwarded the plan to the County Council with an unfavorable recommendation. The council will hear the proposal next month.

Neighbors have gotten more than 100 signatures on a petition which they plan to present at the meeting.