Zoning board backs special-exception permit for salvage-yard storage with stricter buffer and fencing conditions

The Walton County Zoning Board of Adjustment on Sept. 25 recommended that the Board of County Commissioners approve a special-exception permit allowing Double A Auto Salvage & Storage to use 5.18 acres at 542 County Highway 1087 for temporary vehicle storage, subject to expanded landscape buffers, a six-foot screening fence and other conditions. The board made the recommendation unanimously and will forward the matter to county commissioners for a final decision.

The permit application, filed as project MAJ23-100003, would tie the acreage to one specific heavy-industrial use — storage of vehicles awaiting transfer to the applicant’s existing crushing and processing location — instead of rezoning the parcel to heavy industrial. Planning staff entered its analysis and the public comment record into the hearing file, and the board tied its recommendation to the staff report and the Technical Review Committee conditions.

Why it matters: Neighbors said the business’s current operation already generates noise, dust, lights and visible debris; they fear those impacts would increase if the additional five acres are used for storage and…