<< Back 5/15/02 Jackson mulls changes to industry ordinance By Don Hendershot Jackson County commissioners voted unanimously to extend a year-long moratorium on the construction of asphalt plants for an additional 30 days, but it was back to the drawing board for a proposed Industrial Development Ordinance. Commissioners met in a special session May 9, which was the day before the asphalt plant moratorium was to expire. The only two items on the agenda were the moratorium and the second reading of the ordinance. Commissioners had passed the first reading of the ordinance at their May 2 meeting 4-0 (commissioner Conrad Burrell was absent.) At the May 2, meeting commissioners asked planning consultant Dale Holland, who assisted the Economic Development Commission in drafting the ordinance, to make some changes before the May 9 meeting. The primary change was to create a uniform distance for setbacks for all the industries covered by the ordinance — asphalt plants, heavy industries, junkyards and mining industries. The language commissioners asked for called for the location of the closest point of the property line of any of the covered industries to be at least 1,320 feet (1/4 mile) from the property line of any school, child care home, child care institution, day care center, church, hospital, nursing care home, nursing care institution or publicly owned property and 2,640 feet (1/2 mile) from the closest exterior wall of any residential structure. It was evident at the May 9 meeting that commissioners were still plagued with doubt about the language of the ordinance. Commissioner Roberta Crawford presented a list of eight amendments to the ordinance for the board’s consideration. The first amendment once again altered the setback language. Crawford’s amendment would change all setbacks, including residences, to 1,320 feet between property lines and do away with the 2,640 feet between the exterior wall of a structure and the property line of a regulated industry. Crawford’s second amendment called for, “All public roads providing access to an asphalt plant shall be paved to commercial design standards and have a minimum pavement width of twenty-four (24) feet.” Crawford said amendment one was contingent upon amendment two also being accepted. The language of the second amendment was troubling to county attorney Raymond Large and Commissioner Conrad Burrell, who also sits on the DOT board. They had concerns about whether or not the language was “dictating” road usage to DOT. It was clear the 2,640-foot buffer was also troubling to some on the board. Chairman Jay Denton asked Holland if a half-mile buffer was reasonable. Holland said his company had done no mapping to determine what kind of impact the half-mile buffer would have, but said that, in his judgment, the half-mile restriction would limit options for industries. “I just don’t want to have another ordinance that gets thrown out of court,” Denton said. Amendments offered by Crawford calling for asphalt plants to have bag houses and other emission controls that met reasonably available control (RACT) levels seemed to have the consensus of the board. But buffer distances and road widths raised even more questions. Holland told commissioners that the evening of the meeting was the first time he had seen commissioner Crawford’s proposed amendments and that he wasn't sure what legal questions they might create. Commissioners once again asked Holland to rewrite the ordinance for consideration at their regular May 16 meeting. Holland told commissioners he would present them with the May 9 version of the ordinance, an amended ordinance and a memo regarding questions raised regarding the DOT and the impact of a half-mile buffer. The Industrial Development Ordinance will be on the agenda, once again, for the May 16 meeting.