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Board approves special exception allowing salvage yard at former G.W. Pierce site
Summary
The Anderson City Board of Zoning Appeals approved a special exception and a variance allowing Truck and Imports Inc. to resume a junk/salvage yard at 409 Church Drive, finding the long‑standing use met zoning standards though several design waivers were granted.
The Anderson City Board of Zoning Appeals on July 1 approved a special exception and a variance allowing a junk and salvage yard to operate at 409 Church Drive, the longtime former G.W. Pierce Auto Wrecking Yard.
Planning staff told the board the site is located in an I2 industrial zone and, despite having lost its nonconforming status, meets most Figure 9 requirements for a wrecking yard. Staff said the property includes an unoccupied house, a large warehouse and extensive hardened dirt/gravel storage areas and that replacing all parking with paved surfaces would be costly and disruptive. Staff recommended approval of both the special exception and a variance from the city’s hard‑surfacing requirement, plus three waivers to certain design standards.
Steve Serveys of Serveys Engineering and Surveying, the project engineer, testified in support and described the site’s long history as suitable for salvage operations; he told the board, “I really don't have anything else to really add,” and urged reuse of the existing location.
Board members pressed on whether waivers for curbing and sidewalks would set precedent for future applicants, but staff and the petitioner said the parcel is an unusual, established site. The board first approved the variance from the hard‑surfacing requirement and then voted to grant the special exception and the waivers for curbing, sidewalks and cross‑access; the planning department was directed to issue permits as required.
The approval allows the petitioners (Truck and Imports Inc.; Carlos Alberto Mendoza and Juan Curado) to store wrecked vehicles on site, operate weekday business hours consistent with their filing, and use a portable car crusher on occasion. Staff noted that certified notices had been sent and findings of fact were included in the record.
The board’s action was procedural: it approved zoning relief that the city and applicants said would permit a re‑established salvage operation on a site used for decades for that purpose.
