Council will consider amendment

There was no quick fix to the county's controversial junkyard ordinance.

Several months after the county suspended enforcement of the ordinance, Cherokee County Council will consider an amended ordinance at its meeting scheduled for Monday.

After receiving opposition from a group of junkyard operators who claimed it was unfair to single them out for regulation, council referred the ordinance to the Cherokee County Planning Commission for further discussion and changes.

The changes in the ordinance include a reduction in the fencing requirement for new junkyards from eight to six feet.

The updated ordinance would only require existing junkyard owners to plant a vegetative screen on the section of their property that fronts public roads.

More than a year ago, council approved a moratorium on new junkyards and first reading of a proposed ordinance that was drafted by county attorney Joe Mathis.

In November, council unanimously passed final reading of an ordinance that required junkyard owners within two years to erect an 8-foot fence on the portion of their property that fronts public rights-of-way. The ordinance also stipulated that junkyard owners have five years to extend the fence around the entire perimeter of their property.