The Soddy-Daisy Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday will hear multiple variance requests for an asphalt mixing plant on property located near residences, Tennessee State Highway 27, Ivy Academy and North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park.
The parcels at 212, 218 and 226 Thrasher Pike and 1067 Holland Johnson Road are now in a single-wide mobile home district, City Manager Burt Johnson said in an email.
“If the proposed business is deemed to have a deleterious effect (the proposed business has not yet been before the Planning Commission to determine this), there is a 500-foot distance requirement to any occupied dwelling, state highway, public park or school,” Johnson said.
If the variances to the distance requirements are approved, the properties would need to be rezoned for industrial use and a conditional permit would be required, he said.
“Both of these requests would go to the Planning Commission, and then the rezoning would go to the City Commission for approval,” Johnson said.
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Property owner James W. Thomas III also owns Thomas Farms Dumpsite on Dayton Pike, according to the Hamilton County Property Assessor’s website.
Ansley Eichhorn, Ivy Academy’s director of environmental education, said she urges city leaders to uphold zoning protections and reject the property owner’s requests for variances for the property, which is less than a mile from Ivy’s campus.
“An asphalt plant in such close proximity to our school and neighborhoods poses documented health risks — particularly for children — including respiratory issues, headaches and other long-term impacts from airborne pollutants,” Eichhorn said by email.
Located within the North Chickamauga Creek watershed, the plant’s proposed site also poses risks to water quality and habitat integrity, she said.
“We feel it is our duty to speak out alongside the 2,000 people who have already signed a petition against this proposed variance to existing regulations,” Scott Pollard, Ivy’s director of operations, said in an emailed statement on behalf of the school. “We further feel that the potential negative environmental impact of these proposed variances far outweigh any perceived benefit to the community.”
Jim Stewart, cofounder of Keep Soddy-Daisy Beautiful, said in a phone call that he hopes the property owner will work with the community.
“We’re concerned about air pollution, noise pollution and light pollution, if they’re operating in the evening,” Stewart said. “It’s just a very bad look for the main entrance to Soddy-Daisy.”
The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting is at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Soddy-Daisy City Hall, 9835 Dayton Pike.
Contact business reporter Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.
