Midwest Metals gets OK for new site

Amid a small crowd of 10 people Thursday night at the Stratton Center, half of whom were company officials, Midwest Metals gained what it worked for all last year, the right to locate in Shelby County.
At the meeting of the Triple S Board of Adjustments and Appeals, the board granted the company a conditional use permit to locate a scrap metal facility at the intersection of Old Brunerstown Road and Windhurst Way, near what soon will be the new location of the Shelby County Convenience Center.
The board granted the company unanimous approval, and the handful of people present said after the meeting they were pleased with the decision.
“Well, they have done what they said they were going to do, and the location is much more suitable now,” said Marshall Long of the Shelby County Industrial & Development Board.
Resident Bonnie Burks Gray, who asked several questions during the public comment portion of the meeting about such topics as screening from the roadway, its hours of operation and how much traffic the business would generate, said she was satisfied as well.
Farmer Jim Ellis, head of a group that supports agricultural land, echoed that sentiment.
“I’m appreciative that Midwest has tried to do what the commission asked for,” he said.
During the meeting, Ellis had asked about environmental issues, as well as wanted to know what the company planned to do about the potential for copper and other metal thefts.
“We will have a surveillance system, and also we would call the police if we see anything like new items come through,” Midwest Metals President Jeff Wence said. “We will be using the scrap metal alert system.”
Before the vote, Bobby Hudson, president of the industrial foundation, addressed the board, saying he had been working with company officials for the past year to try to find them a suitable place in Shelby County in which to locate. He said he thought the new site was ideal.
“I think they will be good corporate citizens for us and a good fit for Shelby County,” he said.
Last fall, when Midwest Metals failed to obtain a zoning change for property on Kentucky Street it had chosen, there weren’t complaints about the company but only the location.
Midwest Metals, a Louisville-based company with another facility in Frankfort, asked that the parcel near Red Orchard Park be rezoned from I-1 to heavy industrial (I-2) last fall.
The request squeaked by the Triple S Planning Commission in August on a tie-breaking vote from former chairman Gil Tucker, but Shelby County Fiscal Court denied the zone change request, with magistrates stating that it didn’t fit the Comprehensive Plan and that the location was too close to Red Orchard Park.
A zone change was not necessary Thursday night, however, as the property targeted already is zoned light industrial (I-1), and zoning regulations state that any industry can locate in I-1 if it can obtain a conditional use permit from the Adjustment and Appeals board, a necessary step because scrap metal recycling is not included in the permitted uses for I-1.
Wence told the board that the plant would not be engaged in any activities that would constitute environmental hazards.
“We won’t be doing any burning; there will be no fluids involved,” he said. “It will just be basically a loading and unloading station with minimal processing.”
The property surrounding the site is all zoned either commercial or industrial, with the majority of the area zoned I-1.
After the vote Thursday night, Wence expressed his satisfaction with the way it turned out. “I’m very excited; we’ve been waiting a long time for this,” he said. “I can’t wait to get started.
In other business, the board:
Approved a variance for Lewis Jordan to allow him to build a deck on his home at 4952 Frankfort Road, at a setback distance of 50 feet from the roadway.
Approved a variance for Circle K at 1631 Mount Eden Road to put up two additional signs on the gas pump canopy and to improve the exterior wall covering on the canopy by more than 25 percent without having to bring the exterior wall covering into compliance with the regulations.

Buy this photo

View Map