In a short meeting of the Vonore (Tenn.) Regional Planning Commission earlier this month, the board voted to take no action on a letter it was planning to send to the County Commission. The letter would have requested permission to zone a five-mile radius outside the corporate limits.
“The county took care of that problem for us,” said Commission Vice Chair Steve Sloan.
Sloan was referring to a conflict between residents of Foxwood Subdivision and Amburn’s Salvage Yard, both just outside the town’s corporate limits.
Amburn’s recently opened at the entrance to the Foxwood neighborhood. Residents there were opposed to the yard because they said it was an eyesore and they were afraid it might contaminate their well water. Because the yard was not inside Vonore’s corporate limits and the county had no restrictions on salvage yards, the residents had no legal recourse against the business but asked the Vonore Regional Planning to consider zoning outside its corporate limits.
Before Vonore could request permission to do that from the county, the County Commission passed a nuisance ordinance, outlawing any new junkyards or auto salvage yards in Monroe County.
Commission Chair Bill McElhaney asked the board about two other businesses inside the corporate limits that could be considered salvage yards. “We committed ourselves on junkyards at the other meeting and now we need to follow through,” he said.
Sloan said he didn’t think the board had committed to anything, although he was one of the most outspoken commissioners against Amburn’s Salvage Yard.
The businesses McElhaney was unsure of were Cathcart Wrecker Service and White’s Auto Sales, both on Highway 411. Darrell Cathcart said his business was not really a salvage yard but a storage yard where he kept towed vehicles until owners claim them. Harold White said his business was a salvage yard and he had gone before the state on the matter some 15 years ago. He said the business was a salvage yard when he bought it. Because his business existed before the Planning Commission’s zoning ordinance was passed in 1978, Vonore’s zoning laws do not affect it.
The next meeting of the Vonore Regional Planning Commission will be Jan. 19. Monroe County (Tennessee) Advocate