Four businesses in the county-owned David Jones Industrial Park have filed a lawsuit against Anderson County and the Anderson County Economic Development Association over the proposed relocation of the Glen Alpine Convenience Center.
Plans call for the convenience center to move from its current site on Seivers Boulevard in Clinton to a parcel of land in the industrial park, according to WYSH Radio in Clinton.
The plaintiffs in the suit are Carton Services, GWDU Leasing Inc., CMH Inc. and Seneca Medical Inc., WYSH said. They are seeking a temporary injunction preventing the move and seeking to rescind the County Commission’s vote from earlier this year to amend the covenants prohibiting trash collection sites in the park.
In addition, the suit asks that the members of the ACEDA board of directors who also hold public office be removed from the board.
Seeking to end a decades-long dispute over how to address problems at the current site, which has been plagued by flooding and drainage issues as well as concerns over access and safety, the county identified the David Jones Industrial Park as the most suitable and cheapest alternative site to move the convenience center, WYSH said.
This spring, at the request of the Commission, ACEDA recommended changing the covenants regarding what can and cannot be located inside an industrial park to allow a well-maintained convenience center, and the County Commission overwhelmingly approved the changes. The approval came despite complaints from some of the businesses located there, and those complaints were formalized on Tuesday when the suit was filed in Anderson County Chancery Court.
The suit claims that the county has not gone before the Board of Zoning Appeals to apply to use the parcel as a convenience center and that the Commission’s decision to amend the covenants in April was in direct opposition to a resolution adopted in 2009 in which the county went “on record in opposition to convenience centers and transfer stations at any location in or adjacent areas of industrial parks,” WYSH reported.
The lawsuit also claims that the ACEDA recommendation should be nullified because of conflicts of interest on the part of board members and an alleged “veiled threat” that the county would cut off funding for ACEDA if the recommendation had not been made.
Placing a convenience center in the industrial park, according to the suit, would increase incidents of “insect infestation, rats and other pests” as well as noxious odors, noise and traffic congestion, thereby becoming a nuisance and lowering the value of the plaintiffs’ properties.
This story brought to you through an information-sharing agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.
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