Council approves first reading to rezone nearly 22 acres for Best Way expansion

The Anderson Common Council on Monday gave first reading to Ordinance 9-26, a petition from Beex Farms LLC to rezone roughly 21.8'22 acres at the west end of the Beex property from R2 (single-family residential) to I3 (planned industrial) to allow expansion of Best Way's transfer-station operations and support facilities.

Tim Styers, presenting staff findings, said the plan commission recommended approval by a 5-2 vote and identified concerns raised by dissenting members about buffering, drainage and potential traffic increases. "The plan commission is recommending approval of this proposed rezoning by a vote of 5 to 2," Styers said, and he noted certified mail and a legal ad were sent in May as required.

Tom Beam, attorney for Beex Farms, told the council Best Way operates a transfer station on South Madison Avenue and that the current request is to make office and maintenance space legal on the parcel. "We're not adding employees at all," Beam said. "We just need more space for existing employees," and he added that maintenance capacity is constrained: the site now has two service bays for more than 90 vehicles.

Adam Dehart, project manager with Keeler Webb Associates, described physical constraints on the parcel including a legal drain easement, a pipeline easement and a 100-foot electrical transmission line. He said storm-water measures on the plan will comply with Anderson's storm-water technical standards and that the project will coordinate with the Madison County Surveyor for work near the legal drain. Dehart also affirmed a 300-foot landscape buffer adjacent to residential property is required under the zoning ordinance and said vegetation and fencing installed under a 2008 special-use approval form part of the existing buffer; the petitioners said they are prepared to show buffering and drainage plans to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).

Council questions focused on whether the buffer includes berming or fencing for sound and truck traffic and whether the expansion would increase truck trips on Madison Avenue. Petitioners responded that transfer and recycling activities occur inside buildings and that truck counts would rise only if regional growth generated more waste; Beam said the company does not plan to add vehicles or staff as part of this rezoning.

When the council called the question, the vote on the ordinance's first reading was recorded as: Turner yes; Harless yes; Dixon no; Wagner yes; Landers yes; Cole yes; Newman yes; President Graham yes. The motion carried and the ordinance will return to the council for second and third readings at the next regular meeting.

The petitioners and staff will need to present detailed buffering and drainage plans to the BZA as part of any special-exception process required by the I3 classification; those technical plans must address the legal drain and pipeline easement noted by the engineer. The council did not take final action beyond the first reading.