BY KARISSA MILLER

Neighbors spoke out against a rezoning request for locating a source reduction site at the corner of Water Tank Road and Old Mountain Road during the Iredell County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, prompting commissioners to deny the request..

The applicants David Jones and Robert Mayhew asked the county to rezone approximately 4.71 acres at that location from highway business to light manufacturing-conditional for a source reduction facility that uses tub grinders.

Speaker Rev. Brian Burgess, who leads a congregation at Old Mountain Road, voiced his concerns during the public hearing.

“As one who is pro-business and for progress, I speak tonight in regards of a great idea, but the wrong location. As I understand, the aforementioned property is a source reduction site,” Burgess said.

Burgess said his primary concern was the noise created by open air tub grinding.

“It would be like living in a home with 60 homes (nearby) and 25 residents decide that they are going to mow at the same time for eight to 12 hours a day. That’s the noise level you are looking at,” Burgess told commissioners.

He also mentioned concerns about it being a potential fire hazard in regards to the other existing companies that are nearby as well as traffic issues created by large vehicles traveling to the site.

Other neighbors shared similar concerns about the rezoning request.

As a condition of the rezoning, the applicants had agreed to not conduct any tub grinding within 200 feet of an adjacent residential property.

The Planning Commission had recommended approval of the rezoning request.

Commissioner Gene Houpe made a motion to deny the rezoning request, stating that the finding through the denial is inconsistent with the adopted 2030 Horizon Plan.

“It’s a great idea, but just a bad site location, for me,” Houpe said.

Commissioners voted unanimously to deny the request.

Chairman James Mallory encouraged the applicant to continue pursuing this idea, but just in a different location.