Amid heavy opposition, Hamilton County commissioners rejected a property owner’s request to rezone a portion of property near residential neighborhoods for heavy industrial use to allow for portable concrete plant and topsoil screening operation.
Property owner Darrell Jones requested to rezone the property, which is now zoned for light manufacturing with the restriction that use is limited to parking, to a heavy industrial district.
Commissioners voted 10-1 to deny the request, with Commissioner Mike Chauncey, R-East Ridge, voting in favor.
Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency staff recommended the denial, but the planning commission voted to recommend approval with the restrictions that use be limited to the portable concrete plant and topsoil screening, and that the concrete plant be set back at least 500 feet from neighboring properties.
An amendment to reduce the setback to 300 feet, which Jones said would allow him to place the plant out of sight from Igou Ferry Road, failed, with Chauncey and David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, voting in favor.
“Two weeks ago in here, when this was read, there was no opposition,” Commissioner Gene-o Shipley, R-Soddy-Daisy, who represents the district, said at the meeting Wednesday.
At the July 17 commission meeting, Shipley said he was surprised that no opposition was present, and he questioned the property owner about what precautions he was taking to reduce dust that could negatively affect residents of nearby residential subdivisions.
After the Times Free Press reported that the property owner came before the county commission July 17, Shipley said he received 50 calls and emails from residents opposed to the zoning change. Their reasons included increased traffic on Igou Ferry Road and the danger of breathing the silica dust produced when mixing concrete, he said.
Shipley also expressed concern that rezoning a property near residential neighborhoods for heavy manufacturing would open the property up for heavy industrial uses other than a portable concrete plant. Commissioners who are now on the board may not be around if the restrictions imposed in this rezoning request are lifted, he said.
The M-1 heavy industrial zone is the county’s least restrictive, allowing for uses such as blast furnaces, oil refineries and slaughterhouses that could be considered nuisances to neighboring properies, the planning staff noted in its report that recommended denial of the request.
(READ MORE: Buzzi Unicem USA’s Signal Mountain Cement Plant celebrates 100 years in business)
When Shipley questioned why only a few residents received notice of the potential zoning change, Bryan Shults, director of development services for the regional planning agency, said zoning code only requires that notification letters be sent to abutting property owners.
Because of the way the property is situated, “only one or two” property owners had to be notified, Shults said, adding that the property owner is required to put a yellow sign on the property to inform neighbors of the rezoning request.
Shipley said he believes the residential neighborhoods near the property make it unsuitable for a concrete plant, and suggested it be placed somewhere that could accommodate heavy industrial use such as an industrial park.
Planning staff recommended denial of the rezoning request due to the lack of a land use plan for the area supporting heavy industrial use of the property, Shults said.
Commissioner Steve Highlander, R-Harrison, said based on his research, he is concerned about the property’s proximity to the TVA transmission lines and the electromagnetic field surrounding them, adding that he is not an engineer but would like for an engineer’s opinion.
Shults said TVA owns abutting property and was notified, but no one expressed opposition. He said he is unsure who at TVA would have received the notification.
Commissioner Ken Smith, R-Hixson, who seconded the motion of Commissioner Mike Chauncey, R-East Ridge, to approve the rezoning request, said he wanted to clarify for the many residents in opposition present that he made the motion in order to put the item on the floor for discussion. After hearing the discussion, he said he plans to support Shipley in what he feels is best for his district.
“I’m not saying everybody wants it, but why would anybody want it?” Jones said at the meeting Wednesday, responding to opposition to the concrete plant, “If you’re not buying concrete, why would you want it? But this is a very necessary thing in the construction industry.”
Jones’ property is half a mile from a planned subdivision of 600 homes, and the construction of that subdivision will require concrete, he said, whether it is transported from across town or his property nearby.
Because the rezoning request was denied, Jones cannot bring the request before the board again for 12 months.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.
Staff Photo / Igou Ferry Road is seen in 2008. The Hamilton County Commission rejected a rezoning request that would have allowed a portable concrete plant to be established in the Igou Ferry Road area.