Noise, lights concern resident

Byhalia resident Kelly Crain met with the Marshall County Board of Supervisors recently to seek help with noise and light at a one million-square-foot warehouse facility going up behind his property.

District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor agreed there is a lot of noise and mud at the site under construction.

He advised the Town of Byhalia already has a noise ordinance. It just needs to be enforced, Taylor said.

Board attorney Amanda Smith advised supervisors there is litigation ongoing so the board should not get itself involved.

Crain said he is willing to drop his legal complaint, if the construction company would put up a buffer.

“We are willing to drop anything to just get the problem solved,” he said.

Smith said the Town of Byhalia has to ask the county for help before the county can do anything to help, if there is litigation pending.

“They have their own ordinances and I can’t understand why they wouldn’t enforce them,” Smith said.

Lori Crain, Kelly’s wife, was at the meeting to explain the circumstances leading to problem.

“We don’t have ordinances for industrial property,” she said. “We can see their workers using the bathroom.”

“It’s zoned improperly,” Kelly Crain said. “Eleven acres should still be agricultural.” “Most of these developers know to leave a buffer,” Lori Crain said. “It shakes our walls when they work.” District 1 supervisor Charles Terry said, “I understand. Your complaint is with the construction workers (not with the developer).” “We want to stop working hours so it is not 24 hours a day,” Lori Crain said.

Kelly Crain said when the warehouse gets going there will be between 150 to 200 trucks a day “going right by our backyard.”

And there is a problem of erosion every time it rains, Kelly Crain said. He was told in a meeting with homeowners that there would be one shift a day, but now it’s going to be two shifts.

“There’s an agreement in place but it is not being enforced?” asked District 4 supervisor George Zinn III.

Marshall County Industrial Development Authority Director Justin Hall said typically the local government is in charge of approving zoning. IDA was not involved, he said.

There was a buffer zone discussed but never followed through on, he said.

“We were not involved because it comes under the town (Byhalia),” he said.

IDA was concerned about getting involved because of Crain’s lawsuit, Hall said.

Taylor said the county’s zoning has been made uniform by creating an ordinance.

“We have the same thing come up every year or so and we have an ordinance that is made uniform,” he said. “When he (Crain) moved there he knew there was industrial (zoning) behind them. We can’t enforce it. It’s in Byhalia’s minutes.”

Crain said he would be willing to give the developer an easement if the company would install trees. He said when the construction company started site preparation it had agreed to leave the very large oak trees as a buffer. But as dirt work continued the company removed the trees from a 30-foot buffer on the industrial side of the boundary. And when the trees drop their leaves on his side of the property line, the warehouse is easily visible.

When the warehouse is completed it will rise about 40 feet into the air and it will be impossible to cover the entire face of the warehouse because it takes decades for trees to reach that kind of maturity, he said.

“They said they would leave 30 feet of trees on their side as a buffer,” Lori Crain said. “The building is 40 feet over us and looking right down on us.”

“If it had been with IDA and Marshall County Zoning, it would not have come up,” Taylor said.

“So what should we do, withhold ad valorem (tax exemptions) until they do something?” asked Kelly Crain

Smith reiterated that the board cannot give advice due to Crain’s ongoing lawsuit.

“The town has to reach out (to the county for help),” Taylor said.

“Byhalia is not going to ask us for anything,” said District 5 supervisor Ronnie Joe Bennett. “They already have zoning. It looks like the city would help you all put a buffer up. They will get taxes off it (the warehouse).”

County engineer Larry Britt said the buffer was initially to be 75 feet but some places were cleared up to 30 feet from the property line and at other places right up to the property line.

“Nothing is going to grow overnight for the height of the building,” Britt said.

But the erosion of silt is the construction company’s responsibility to stop, he said.

“MDEQ (the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality) can do something that can be taken up at a higher level,” Britt said.

“We spoke to MDEQ and they say the city has to enforce it,” said Lori Crain. “It’s like the city jumped in over their heads.”

“You don’t have to go to the city to get silt contained,” Bennett said. “You can sue them.” Kelly Crain said he wants to be a good neighbor.

“We’re not in it so we have to wait,” Taylor said.