MARSHALL - After the county denied a permit for a proposed septage detention facility, a Marshall man is appealing the county's decision and will again go before the Madison County Board of Adjustment July 15.
At the Board of Adjustment's June 24 meeting — which was moved from the usual meeting location of the Marshall library to the N.C. Cooperative Extension Office - Madison County Center, where the commissioners meet, in order to accommodate a large crowd — the board voted to continue the meeting after five neighbors of the proposed project were granted standing in the hearing, alleging that their property would suffer special damages if the project were permitted.
One of the neighbors granted standing, Richard Ochsner, said he was worried his immunocompromised young son would be threatened if sewage runoff potentially wound up in a nearby stream where his son would be playing.
The proposed facility would be located at 98 Zenina Farms Drive in Marshall. Matthew Ponder is represented by Bo Carpenter, Allen Stahl + Kilbourne in his appeal of the county's administrative decision to deny a permit for the proposed septage detention and treatment facility.
According to Development Services Director Brad Guth, in the December decision the county administration ruled that the proposed septage detention facility was not permitted in the Residential-Agricultural district and was not subject to an agricultural exception.
Jack Martin, a resident of Heather Downs Drive, said he worried that permitting the facility would potentially turn Marshall and Alexander into "another Canton," referencing the certain smells associated with Canton, particularly in the summers, due to the production at the now-closed paper mill.
The job laid out before the Board of Adjustment is to determine whether Guth and the county ruled correctly in determining that the septage detention facility is not permitted on the Zenina Farms Drive property, according to Madison County Board of Adjustment Vice Chair Hart Barnhill.
"We're here to debate a definition," Barnhill said. "We're not here to debate health risks, real estate risks. That's a different hearing. The point of this is to determine whether or not the use that Mr. Ponder's proposing for his property is an Agricultural or Residential use.
"'It's not specifically listed by our ordinance. Definitionally, it's not allowed in an ordinance, as laid out. There's a list of 30-some-odd uses for Residential-Agricultural. This is not one of them,'" Barnhill read from the staff report.
Land use attorney John Noor is one of two attorneys representing the county in the proceedings, as Donny Laws is representing the board as well.
"I won't speak for Mr. Carpenter but I think the parties agree this is a very narrow field that really has two questions: Is it permitted, yes or no? If not, is a farm exemption applicable to what's proposed? Those are the two questions," Noor said.
The June 24 meeting dealt with residents being granted and denied standing, as three residents were denied standing by the board in addition to the five residents who were granted standing.
In the July 15 meeting, Carpenter and Ponder will present the application. Additionally, there will be witness testimony and discussion, with both the applicant and residents granted standing having the opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses.
Finally, the board will issue its ruling on whether the county ruled correctly to deny the original application for the Zenina Farms Drive property.
The Madison County Board of Adjustment meeting will take place July 15 at 4:30 p.m. at 258 Carolina Lane in Marshall.
Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for three years. He earned a first-place award in beat news reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com
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