Junk Ordinance sent to commissioners

By Colin McCandless

pressreporter@thefranklinpress.com

The Macon County Board of Commissioners accepted the proposed draft of the County Junk Ordinance at their Nov. 10 meeting. They and the county attorney will now review the document.

Planning board chairman Lewis Penland presented the ordinance to commissioners, outlining the main points of the document.

The planning board has been working on a junk ordinance since July 15 and conducted a final review of the document during their Oct. 21 meeting. The ordinance is primarily modeled on Haywood County's junk ordinance and is designed to be a screening ordinance.

"As a board we did not want to tell people that they could not have junk on their property," Penland told commissioners. "You can have all the junk you want on your property. But in the interest of the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Macon County you must screen your junk if it meets the threshold of the ordinance."

Macon's Junk Ordinance develops general standards for any junkyard, service station, garage, used car lot, wrecker service or motor vehicle storage area established from and after the effective date of the ordinance.

Explaining the process of developing the ordinance, Penland said they tried to balance the property owners' rights to have junk on their property while protecting the property rights of their neighbors.

"With a little give and take we can make these regulations work for everyone," Penland said.

He highlighted some of the general standards for any junkyard, service station, garage, used car lot, wrecker service or motor vehicle storage area established from and after the effective date of the ordinance:

Requires a minimum setback of 30 feet from any public or private road surface and outside the right of way of any public or private road.

Must be screened or fenced from view. (Those junkyards which are screened by natural land features or vegetation or junkyards that have enough acreage or are located in an isolated where the topography and terrain block it from view may have all or part of the screening requirement waived).

Must not be located closer than within 500 feet of a residence, school or business.

Requires a 50-foot vegetative buffer from all perennial streams or water bodies as shown on the U.S.G.S. topographic map.

Automobile graveyards of six or more cars would need to be screened from view.

As liaison to the planning board, Commissioner Ronnie Beale commended Penland and the planning board for their hard work on the ordinance. "It's a thankless job and we appreciate it," Beale said.

"But it's an important job," added Leatherman. "I think it's nice that you don't have to reinvent the wheel on every ordinance, but you do have to change the tire every once in a while," Leatherman said.

Commissioner Jim Davis said that while he is sympathetic to the need for an ordinance for junkyards, and appreciated the work of the planning board, he had some concerns with the ordinance draft as written and its regulation of entities outside of junkyards.

He discussed several of these concerns with Penland and fellow commissioners. Under the ordinance section on "Findings, Purposes and Objectives," the language reads that "it is hereby found that automobile graveyards and health nuisance or safety hazard vehicles are inherently dangerous and should be prohibited."

Davis commented that he is not comfortable with that language and did not think they are "inherently dangerous." He felt the wording should be changed.

Davis also asked about the purpose of regulating other places such as service stations, garages, wrecker services, etc, as opposed to body shops or lawn mower repair shops. He said he presumed that the focus of the planning board's document is to regulate that which is unsightly.

Penland said that this was correct and added that their ordinance is modeled after Haywood's and other counties, which did not address the particular facilities Davis mentioned.

Under the section describing a minimum setback of 30 feet on public and private roads (referenced above), Davis said he was concerned with the language and said they needed to define private roads.

"Because if I have a junkyard, and I have my own private road in my junkyard, I can't have stuff within 30 feet of my own private road," Davis said.

For part of the ordinance that would require registration and permitting of pre-existing junkyards, Davis asked what the rationale was for having different days of compliance for junkyards (180 days) than everything else (30 days).

Davis remarked that it did not seem consistent to him to have different days for compliance unless you have a good reason for it.

He also said the section of the ordinance that covers "Appeals and Variances," which describes the circumstances when commissioners can authorize a variance upon appeal, had some language that should be changed.

Beale said planning board members had discussed some of the issues Davis brought up, and reiterated that our document is modeled after the Haywood County ordinance, which has been in place there for a decade, has worked well and withstood tests, according to feedback from their county planner.

"I'm not saying that we don't need to change it, but that was the premise that the planning board was working off of," Beale said.

"Our marching orders were to try and not reinvent the wheel as much as possible," added Penland.

Davis responded that Macon County also has an opportunity to improve on Haywood's ordinance. He added that regulating junkyards is one thing, but it was beyond his comfort zone regulating these other establishments such as service stations, wrecker services, motor vehicle storage areas, etc.

After commissioners and the county attorney review the ordinance and make recommendations and changes they will bring the working draft back to the planning board for their input prior to scheduling a public hearing.

The board will recess until 6 p.m., Monday, Nov. 17 when they will hold a continuation meeting in the commissioners boardroom, third floor, Macon County Courthouse.