SODDY-DAISY — The Soddy-Daisy Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday denied property owner James Thomas’ requests for distance variances to put an asphalt mixing plant in a residential area near Ivy Academy, North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park and Tennessee Highway 27.
Thomas told board members he believes an asphalt mixing plant is needed on the north end of Hamilton County, and his properties at 212, 218 and 226 Thrasher Pike and 1067 Holland Johnson Road are “an ideal location.”
If the proposed plant was deemed to cause harmful or damaging effects — a determination the Soddy-Daisy Planning Commission would have made if the Zoning Board of Appeals approved the variances — a distance of least 500 feet would be required between the plant and any occupied dwelling, state highway, public park or school, City Manager Burt Johnson said in an email.
The property’s proximity to the highway, the route most trucks would take to access the plant, is what makes it an ideal site, Thomas said.