La Vergne board approves special exception for waste transfer station at 151 Jefferson Pike

May 27, 2025 — The La Vergne Board of Zoning Appeals voted to grant a special exception to allow a waste transfer station and future indoor metal recycling at 151 Jefferson Pike, a parcel in the I-3 special use zoning district, after hearing a staff presentation and testimony from the applicant and engineer. The vote was recorded by roll call as “aye” and the motion carried.

The request, presented by planning staff, would convert an existing, largely unpaved yard and used-vehicle storage area into a paved transfer station with a covered tipping floor, processing/loading bays, stormwater detention and landscaping. "So this request is for a special exception, to operate a waste transfer station at 151 Jefferson Pike," said Miss Logan, the planning staff member who presented the report and the site plan to the board.

The proposal calls for removal of most existing structures, paving the lot to reduce track-out and dust, installation of stormwater inlets and a detention pond, and new landscaping and fencing. Greg Gwynn, the applicant representative for Waste Pro, told the board the company plans to build an indoor transfer facility and make the yard “a hard surface” to eliminate the current track-out. "We're gonna put a transfer station that you have now that's outdoors. We're gonna build a building and put it indoors, and then we will conform to all of the guidelines and regulations that the city has," Gwynn said.

Gwynn also said the company discussed providing a one-acre city recycling drop-off and that the site would be used first for construction and demolition (C&D) material and later, as routes develop, for municipal solid waste (MSW). "We had talked to the city about was also providing a 1 acre, site for recycle drop off, for the city. That was 1 thing that I didn't see on there, but that is part of our proposal," he said.

An engineer for the applicant, Jason Rebscher of Barge Design Solutions, described planned stormwater and grading work to capture and direct runoff into new storm structures leading to a detention pond. "It is going to now be an asphalt surface ... we're going to end up taking a lot of the water that's on the backside of the site and put that into storm structures and run that over to a pond," Rebscher said. He also said the design includes front ditching and larger curbed bumpers to divert direct runoff from the street.

Supporters at the hearing said the project would clean up a property the city has litigated previously for code and stormwater violations. Jason Cole (identified at the hearing as mayor) said the project "will get it in compliance" and that, to his understanding, "there's no trash that's gonna be sitting out overnight at the site." Cole urged approval while noting the ultimate decision rested with the appeals board.

During review, staff noted that the property is in an I-3 zoning district where uses require a special exception from the board. The applicant provided site plans showing a concrete tipping floor, metal building elevations, truck turning diagrams, and a note that phase 1 and phase 2 environmental surveys and borings had been completed and returned clean. Gwynn said the company had drilled the site and would not accept third-party environmental risk.

Board discussion and public comment focused on runoff, dust and visual buffering. The applicant said the plan retains existing vegetation on the west side, adds at least a 5-foot front buffer and a 2-foot buffer on two sides, installs a new fence with screening fabric and adds landscaping between the fence and the road. The applicant said metal recycling and transfer operations would be performed under roof rather than in open air.

A motion to approve the special exception was made and seconded; a roll-call vote was taken with members answering "aye" and the motion carried. The transcript does not record individual board member vote names; the board recorded the outcome as approved.

The board also approved the prior meeting minutes for April 29, 2025 at the start of the session.