By John Howell Sr.

The Mississippi Supreme Court last week upheld the Panola County Board of Supervisors in its decision that would allow a recycling operation at the corner of Chapeltown Road and Highway 6.

The 5 to 3 decision resolves a disagreement that began in 2006 when Chris Aldridge bought the site that had formerly housed a concrete plant. He applied to the Panola County Land Development Commission for rezoning and a special exception that would allow him to operate a recycling center on land that was zoned agricultural.

Aldridge’s request for rezoning and special exception was opposed by nearby residents, but the commission made a recommendation to the board of supervisors that the rezoning and exception be allowed. When supervisors voted unanimously at their January 14, 2008, meeting to rezone the property to industrial, and to permit the special exception that would allow a junkyard, adjoining landowner Lent E. Thomas Jr. filed a lawsuit in Panola County Circuit Court contesting supervisors’ action, according to the Supreme Court’s decision announced last week.

Attorney Jay Westfaul represented Aldridge in the appeal. Thomas was represented by attorney Michael Kevin Graves.

The circuit court upheld the decision by the Panola County Board of Supervisors, and Thomas appealed to the state Supreme Court, alleging four errors: that the basis for the rezoning from agricultural to industrial was “not supported by substantial evidence;” that it “constituted impermissible spot zoning;” that the basis for permitting the special exception allowing the junkyard was also “not supported by substantial evidence;” and that the zoning ordinance was “impermissibly vague thereby making the approval of Aldridge’s request for special exception arbitrary and/or capricious and/or unconstitutional,” according to the text of the decision.

In finding “that the trial court did not err in affirming the Board’s decision to rezone,” the Supreme Court included an extensive review of the proceedings that led to the rezoning and granting the special exception, noting that supervisors heard a presentation by Aldridge’s counsel that “the junkyard was fenced and operated in a neat manner with nothing thrown around the area like a traditional junkyard.”

Thomas’s counsel argued that there had been insufficient change in the neighborhood to warrant rezoning. Real estate appraiser John Fiser stated that property near a Sardis junkyard decreased in appraisal value because of its proximity.

Associate Justice Chandler, writing for the majority, affirmed the lower court’s decision and rejected the arguments that the lower court had erred.

Chandler agreed with Aldridge’s claim through counsel before the board of supervisors that his business served a “public need” … providing “a nearby place for the public to sell batteries, aluminum cans and old, unwanted metal objects.”

Joining Chandler were Presiding Justices George C. Carlson Jr. and James E. Graves and Associate Justices James W. Kitchens, Randy G. Pierce and Michael K. Randolph.

Dissenting were Associate Justices Jess H.Dickinson, Chief Justice William L. Waller, and Associate Justice Ann Lamar.