Rockmart resident denied permit for impound lot on personal property

Neighbors call it a ‘junkyard,’ cite safety issue concerns

‘He was told by county police that he’d have problems with theft ... Someone broke down the fence out there and that’s going to cuase more theft to the houses around him.’

Dwain Yates

neighbor

It didn’t take long for the Polk County Commission to deny a special land use permit for a Rockmart man who was seeking to run what he was calling an impound lot on his property in a residential area.

Commissioners voted unanimously to deny the application made by Rusty Hatfield of 46 Mann Road to run the “impound lot” which neighbors who spoke out against the issue in a brief public hearing on the issue said in reality that it was a junkyard.

A neighbor on Mann Road, Dwain Yates, said he spoke for several others at the meeting during public comments on the request that allowing Hatfield’s operation in their area posed both public safety and economic issues for those living around the property.

“He was told by the county police that he’d have problems with theft out there, and he already has,” Yates told Commissioners during their Feb. 13 work session.

“Someone broke down the fence out there and that’s going to cause more t heft to t he houses around him.”

Traffic issues were also a major concern with trucks coming in and out regularly to the Mann Road property owned by Hatfield.

Yates also provided pictures to the board of the property, which he called “an eyesore for our property.”

“We don’t feel this is a proper place to have a junkyard,” he said.

“We ask that it be removed in a timely manner and that we get our peace and quiet back out there.”

Hatfield had previously been denied the Special Land Use Permit by the county’s planning and zoning board.