TRUCK REFRIGERATION FIRM AT ODDS WITH JACKSON

JACKSON -- In a hollow just north of the new extension of East Main Street, near some of the city's sparkling new subdivisions, is one man's eyesore and another man's business.

The eyesore is a large collection of truck refrigeration units that easily can be seen from East Main Street or from the nearby subdivisions. City officials say many people have complained that the units should be cleaned up or at least hidden from view. Charles Williams, who lives on adjoining property, brought the issue to the Board of Aldermen last week.

"It's an eyesore," he says. "Main Street is a beautiful street with a lot of traffic and nice houses. It needs to be cleaned up."

Jack Priest's company, Transport Refrigeration, repairs tractor-trailer refrigeration units. He has stored old units, which contain valuable metals, at the bottom of the hill for many years since before the property was annexed by Jackson in the 1970s.

"Since it was a nonconforming use, it was grandfathered in," says Rodney Bollinger, the city's planning and zoning official. "We could hardly make him stop." Priest and his wife also live on land just behind the storage site.

Until the East Main Street extension was completed last year, the site was largely hidden from view. Now the city has asked Priest to erect a fence around it. Officials say their concerns are safety, with more children moving into the neighborhood, and aesthetic. They say he has not responded to the request.

Priest said he has been trying to work out issues with the city since construction of Main Street across his property was planned.

"I addressed the idea of putting up a fence when I negotiated the sale of the land," he said.

Priest told city officials he'd need $7,000 to construct a fence but says he was offered only $3,000.

He contends he was treated unfairly by the city from the beginning, when the city forced him to give up right of way by threatening to take it by eminent domain. "I feel I was extorted out of land," he said.

He thinks the solution is for the city to put its money where its mouth is. "If they want to restrict the grandfather, they need to buy our land," he says.

"I did not ask them to come through here. I should not be asked to build something."

Even with a fence, Mayor Paul Sander acknowledges, the site still will be visible from some hills in the area. "I think we can require some fencing to be put in. But it is questionable how fencing is going to help. That's an issue we'll deal with separately," he says.

The first issue at hand is a tractor-trailer parked on the property. The city has sent Priest a letter ordering its removal. Officials say he sent a letter back refusing to move the truck. He proposes making a fence out of tractor trailers.

But in a residential zone, a parked tractor-trailer violates two city ordinances, Bollinger says.

An administrative hearing on the order is scheduled for later this month.

Bollinger said the city has been waiting to allow Priest to exhaust all his administrative options. He was denied a request for a variance that would have allowed him to build next to the roadway. He says he wanted to construct a building there to house the refrigeration units. He says it would not be feasible to put such a building where the units now sit because of the earth-moving required.

Wednesday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously rejected a request by him and six other property owners along the corridor to rezone the property from single-family residential to general commercial.

Instead, the commission voted unanimously to recommend the rezoning to general commercial of a parcel north of East Main Street beginning 400 feet west of Shawnee Boulevard. This encompasses the land where the refrigeration units are.

The Jackson Board of Supervisors next must decide whether or approve or deny the original rezoning request. If denied, it could then consider the P&Z Commission's recommendation. The issue probably will be taken up at the board's May 15 meeting.

If rezoned to general commercial, Priest's business no longer would be nonconforming.

But Sander says rezoning won't change the city's position on doing something to shield the refrigeration units from view. He added, "We're not trying to hinder a man from making a living. We just want to improve how it looks."

Williams said he has talked to Priest about the site. "He said it was there first. He just wasn't going to clean it up."

Williams, a housing developer, said one prospective buyer for a nearby $200,000 house said he wasn't interested because of the view.

Priest says he understands Williams' complaint but wonders how he just noticed the refrigeration units. "Those suckers were there when he bought that land," Priest said.

Staff writer Tony Hall contributed to this story.