Developers seeking exemptions to Waynesville’s smart-growth land-use plan will appear before the town planning board at 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 17, at Waynesville town hall.

The development company has plans to redevelop the old Dayco industrial site in West Waynesville, which has been sitting vacant for eight years, into a retail complex with big-box stores. The property is considered a Brownfield site due to chemical contamination by its former industrial owners. The developers want the town to cut them some slack on land-use regulations since they are willing to take a risk on a potentially contaminated site.

The requests asks for exceptions “to encourage redevelopment of abandoned, idle or under-used properties where the threat of environmental contamination has hindered its redevelopment.”