Chandler residents upset over plans to build a controversial drug-testing laboratory turned out in force Thursday to raise objections to their City Council.
Nearly 80 protesters of the large drug-testing firm Covance lined Arizona Avenue through downtown Chandler that evening, waving signs that criticized the City Council for welcoming the Princeton, N.J.-based company's foray into the East Valley. The activists argue that the company mistreats animals used in drug testing and are trying to prevent it from opening a new 600,000-square-foot lab near Queen Creek and Gilbert roads.
However, the protests were not limited to the anti-Covance crowd, as two large mobile billboards cruised back and forth along the avenue advertising the Web site www.petakillsanimals.com, which advocates against national animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The anti-PETA campaign is led by a Washington, D.C., group the Center for Consumer Freedom, which represents food companies and restaurants.
After hitting the streets, the opponents and supporters of Covance packed into City Council chambers, forcing officials to steer some into a nearby overflow room where attendees could watch the nearly two hours of public comment on closed-circuit TVs.
Covance first announced plans to expand in Chandler more than a year ago, but recently announced it would use a larger site near the Chandler Municipal Airport. Covance executives said the move allowed the company more growth potential, but many saw the change as a way to dodge an a promised voter referendum if City Council members granted the necessary zoning restrictions.
The new site already has the appropriate zoning, so the company needs no city approvals other than routine building permits, to construct the lab. Company officials have said researchers based there will primarily perform federally required clinical drug trials, testing them on animals such as monkeys, dogs and rats.
Some residents accused the council of working with the company behind closed doors to find a way around a referendum, and they promised council members they wouldn't last past the next election.
"Why would you go behind closed doors and make this deal with them, helping them to secure land, totally discounting the fact that we, the majority of Chandler residents, probably oppose it?" demanded Chandler resident Pauline Sutton. "The answer is obviously about money."
But while the majority of speakers at Thursday's council meeting opposed Covance, several spoke in favor of the company and urged council members to continue supporting its plans.
Chandler resident Joyce Coronel told council members of her nephew whom she says suffers from a life-threatening illness that requires daily injections.
"I'm begging you to not fall prey to scare tactics," she said tearfully.
Cathy Valladolid, who along with four other Chandler women formed Citizens Against Covance, objected to council members' participation in an invitation-only news conference held earlier this month where the company's new site was announced. "We will not forget this come election time," she said.
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