Letter: City, county leaders should act now to prevent next Maymead

Opposition to Maymead Materials Inc.’s placing an asphalt plant on Northside Drive was demonstrated at Monday night’s city council’s meeting, where approximately 300 residents and concerned citizens crowded into two rooms to present planned speeches and petitions with over 1,000 signatures at the quasi-judicial hearing. Two extremely important issues came to light as a result of this recent battle:

• The reputation of the business requesting a special-use permit needs to be considered; and
• Effective land-use planning is critical.

Larry Marlin’s recent guest column in the R&L enumerated various complaints about Maymead: Maymead’s infractions, bid rigging, civil penalties pending and fines. Maymead’s initial request for the asphalt plant was denied by the Board of Adjustment (the distance from a residential property did not meeting the requirement). May-mead’s attempt to circumvent the spirit of the zoning law by subdividing the property was not approved Monday night.

It is of little surprise Maymead is now threatening to sue the City of Statesville, as it did in Allegheny County, to force the city to allow an asphalt plant on Northside Drive.

After the meeting Monday night, the attorney for Maymead stated that Maymead had subdivided the property and the motion should have been approved. If that is the case, why even have a vote?

City council members were placed in a position that assumed they would approve motions presented to them without question, rather than be allowed to vote their conscience. If the zoning law is written in that manner, something needs to be changed!

Councilmen Cecil Stallard, Flake Huggins and Ron Matthews had the courage to put the citizens’ best interests, health and well-being, as well as property values, over Maymead’s profit motive.

Mary Katherine Harbin, an area manager with Maymead daughter of Wiley Roark — the vice president of Maymead — was quoted in Wednesday’s newspaper as saying, "We’re obviously disappointed with what happened Monday, but we’ve dealt with this before, and we know what steps we have to take, and we are willing to take those steps in order to locate another plant in Iredell County on that site." The threats continue.

Just as Allegheny residents found their zoning laws weak and ineffective and were faced with lawsuits, the zoning and special-use permit laws in Statesville need to be re-evaluated. City and county leaders should replace outdated and ineffective zoning laws to prevent industries which are similar to toxic hazard waste facilities from being built within the city limits of Statesville. Effective land-use planning is crucial for the city of Statesville and Iredell County.

Jim and Linda Stamper
Statesville