County Seeks to Regulate Junk and Scrap Metal Yards

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): County Attorney Ed Woltz sought the guidance of the Surry County Board of Commissioner Monday evening regarding the county’s new development ordinance plan and the status of grandfathered salvage and junkyards.

“We’ve been challenged for years on getting it right and implementing a policy properly,” Woltz told the board. He reminded them that in April the board approved the exhaustive new development ordinance code that had language regarding existing salvage and junkyards.

Woltz said in August that Development Services sent a letter to each existing yard that was registered in the county; at that time there were 46 such salvage or junkyards on the books with the county.

 The letter advised those owners that an application was necessary to continue operation. Owners were advised of the fee attached and the deadline for return of those applications, which passed Oct. 17. On top of the application and fee, Woltz said that ultimately sketch plans would be needed that would show required buffer zones.

“Since the letter went out, only 21 applications have been received. According to the terms of the ordinance the next steps would require a notice be sent to those who have not applied for the application of their discontinuance and their ability to appeal to the Board of Equalization. If they don’t appeal, then they have lost the right to operate a salvage or junk yard,” Woltz explained.

He went on to say that a period of monitoring will come next to determine which, if any, of the applicants are actually conducting business at their junk or scrap facility. “An active yard is one that has activity, not one that just has a bunch of metal, vehicles, or what-have-you with weeds growing up in them,” he said.

“We can establish that they are active by using business records or documentation from the owners and if a business is not operating, if it’s just a bunch of metal materials sitting there, we would give them notice of the fact they would be able to either contest it or not, but if you don’t contest it, they’re going to be determined not to be an active business and will no longer be entitled to operate a salvage yard.”

Woltz pointed to an incident on Sparger Road where residents thought that a salvage yard had gone out of business when it had not. “If you recall Sparger Road ceased operations, or apparently did, and when it became a full-blown salvage yard again the residents said it was very disruptive. They really hadn’t noticed that this thing was apt to regenerate, which it did, and this ordinance is going to take care of similar situations.”

 With the deadline passed, he asked the board if they would like to extend the period of filing or move ahead with the policy as it currently is written, meaning that those 25 yards who did not apply will be moving into the next step of the process. He said, “They had nearly three months to get it done and they didn’t, some of them did and some of them paid their fees and they’ll go forward.”

The board felt that the proper notice was given via certified mail to those business owners and a sufficient amount of time was given for reply; they opted not to extend the deadline for applications.

 Courtesy: www.mtairynews.com