Permit Approved For Board Member In Violation

By Emily Weaver
Dunn Daily Record

ANGIER – Five hours into the Harnett County Board of Adjustment meeting Monday night, a split board voted to approve a special use permit for a property that has been in violation of county codes for years.

Harnett County Planning Board member Scott Tart owns the land at 95 Lambsquarters Road off of Chalybeate Springs Road in Angier where hundreds of porta-potties and handwashing stations sit. Tart said the tools of his Forever Clean Portable Toilets business have been there for years and his neighbors didn’t notice it until he had to cut down some trees.

Photos presented during the meeting also showed 1,000-gallon tanks of fuel, a semi-trailer, heavy machinery and the headquarters of his son’s landscaping business accessed by a driveway that the N.C. Department of Transportation hasn’t approved. None of those uses are allowed in his residential zone without a special use permit.

Tart followed the permitting process for a similar use of his land on U.S. Highway 401 in Kipling years ago, but not this time. When asked why, he said the situation just kind of “evolved.”

“It didn’t start out on day 1 as that. It evolved over time. We’re unrestricted, not like a neighborhood. We thought everybody was fine,” he said. “Until we cut down those trees and everybody could start seeing in, we didn’t have an issue.”

In February, Tart was told to clear the land of those violations until he received that permit. He admitted he never did.

“My son has nowhere else to go,” he said. “He has no choice, but to go in and out. He has jobs to do. He has families to feed. He has 40 employees.”

Tart told the board that the growth spurt in Harnett County’s residential development left them with no other options in acquiring properties for the overflow storage of his family’s businesses. In April, he applied for a permit to continue the use of his land for that storage and his son’s landscaping business after months of violations.

Board Chair Andrew Ruhland referred to Monday night’s decision as one of the hardest choices he ever had to make on the board. But at the end of the evening, the choice came down to an interpretation of the findings of fact they were asked to make and not the fact that the land owner, who knew the rules, chose to break them.

Board Vice Chair Murray Simpkins voted to approve the special use permit. Board member David Summers seconded the motion. Murray, Simpkins and Ruhland passed the motion with board members Jonathon Pope and Walter Massey voting against it.

The ruling is final. Any appeal will have to be made to the state’s supreme court. But Tart still faces hurdles with a commercial use site plan that requies approval from agencies like the N.C. Department of Transportation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

How it started

Neighbors complained of violations in December 2022.

“An initial and second site inspection was done in January 2023,” said Desiree Patrick, Harnett County’s community relations director. A notice of violation was issued in February 2023 that gave Tart 30 days to come into compliance by removing the violations and ceasing operations until he was granted a permit.

Tart applied for the special use permit on April 12. Photos taken on April 24 show the violations still existed on the site.

“This activity was detected by our zoning officer, Mr. Kyle Holder,” Randy Baker, assistant manager of Harnett County Planning Services, told the board. “He performed an inspection on the site and issued a notice of violation for activities currently being utilized on the site. And the reason why we’re here tonight is a compliance action on behalf of the property owner to acquire the proper permits and approvals to have this activity conducted on this site.”

Tart told the board he bought the property in 2007.

“We’ve been there operating a long time, but the issue arose recently when we started having trees that were dying,” he said. “My son, having trucks there, I think we had a tree that fell and crushed like five trucks at one time so at that point we started having to cut some trees and decide what we really wanted to do with the property.”

That was in 2020.

“Before we did anything with the property, before cutting the trees, in trying to keep in harmony with everybody around us, we went personally and talked with the closest adjacent neighbors that we had,” Tart said. We “said, ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking about doing. This is what we want to do and do you have an issue with it?’ The majority of the ones that are the closest adjacent (neighbors) to us said that they didn’t really have a problem with what we were doing other than the fact that they didn’t want us to put houses back in there.”

Tart said his company offers portable toilets and handwashing stations to aid workers in disaster areas.

“We were one of the first people on Sanibel Island, right after Hurricane Ian, this past year,” he said. “We stayed down there for 45 days sometimes even more trying to help people.”

Some of his neighbors told the board, Tart has helped them, too, taking down trees they worried would fall on their homes.

Earl McLean, of 2045 Chalybeate Springs Road, said he’s seen “constant improvements” to the land since Tart bought it.

Todd Holleman, of 1850 Chalybeate Springs Road, said he has lived on his land since 1981 and has seen “tremendous improvements to the property” since Tart came.

“It looks better than I have seen it,” said Trey Stanley, another neighbor, at 19 Atkins Road, Fuquay-Varina.

William Taylor of 1760 Chalybeate Springs Road said Tart cleaned up fallen trees from his property for him.

Neighboring dissent

But other residents, at the meeting, challenged Tart’s good neighbor persona.

Linda Chandler, of 305 Creekside Drive, complained of the extra traffic on Chalybeate Springs Road, including dump trucks going to and from Tart’s land. The trucks take up the full width of a lane, she said.

Another neighbor, Denise Owens, asked who would be monitoring Tart and what is dumped out there.

“Do you know that we have wells on our property that people use for personal use? What happens if he contaminates these waters?” she asked.

Owens lives across the street at 1813 Chalybeate Springs Road.

“He is constantly burning something back in that area,” she added.

Tart later told the board that his son burns natural debris, like shrubs from his landscape business, on the site.

Mildred Crissman, who lives at 1626 Chalybeate Springs Road, said her land that borders Tart’s property for 775 feet has been flooded with mud since he removed the trees. She shared a packet of dated photographs illustrating her concerns with the board.

“We aren’t able to walk or drive on our site unless it’s a very dry time,” she said.

Crissman told the board she felt threatened when Tart came over to see her and her husband at their home on May 4.

She said he told her that if she caused “trouble at the hearing, it would force him to do as he wanted. Neither one would win, but he would do as he wanted to do. I considered this a threat.”

Tart later apologized if that comment came off threatening and said he only meant that if he couldn’t use his property the way he needed, he might be forced to put in houses, which he knew his neighbors didn’t want.

He told the board he was searching for a compromise and was still willing to work with the Crissmans to reach it.

Crissman told him to stay off of her property, after the meeting.

‘Rock and a hard place’

Judy Wheeler, of 1797 Chalybeate Springs Road, told the board she was “between a rock and a hard place.” She likes Tart and his family, but doesn’t like the porta-potties she sees across the street that depreciate the value of neighboring homes, she said.

“I wouldn’t do this in their back yard,” Wheeler said. “We have zoning in this county for a reason. I’ve lived on this property for 34 years and it’s been peaceful and quiet.” 

Until now.

Now, Wheeler walks out of her house on Saturday morning and hears the warning beeps of trucks backing up and the slams of a tailgate door after a dump truck drops another load.

“Our peaceful enjoyment is gone,” she said. 

After more than three hours of public input, Board of Adjustment members had a decision to make. Nearly every member expressed concerns with Tart breaking the rules and not stopping operations when he was told to do so. But the board had to balance his request for a special permit with five findings of fact:

• The requested use is or is not in harmony with the surrounding area and compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

Pope made a motion that it was not in harmony due to the lack of other like businesses in the area. Massey seconded the motion, but it was voted down by Simpkins, Ruhland and Summers.

Ruhland made a motion that it was in harmony since Tart’s uses are allowed under a special use permit. Summers seconded the motion and it passed with Simpkins, Ruhland and Summers voting in favor of the motion and Pope and Massey voting against it.

• The requested use will or will not materially endanger the public health and safety.

Simpkins motioned that the outdoor storage and business will not endanger public health. Summers seconded the motion and it passed with Simpkins, Ruhland and Summers voting in favor and Pope and Massesy voting against the motion.

• The requested use will or will not substantially injure the value of adjoining property — or — alternatively, the requested use is or is not or will be or won’t be a public necessity.

After several minutes of deliberation and discussion, Ruhland focused on the latter part of the question and motioned the requested use will be a public necessity in times of storms or other disasters in which Forever Clean Portable Toilets may be needed. Simpkins gave the second and the motion passed unanimously.

• The requested use will or will not meet all required conditions and specifications.

Massey motioned the requested use will meet required conditions since it would have to go through the process of a commercial site plan. Simpkins seconded the motion that passed with only Pope voting against it.

• The requested use is or is not in general conformance with the Harnett County Unified Development Ordinance, Land Use Plan and other relevant adopted plans.

Ruhland made a motion that the requested use was in general conformance.

“How can we in good faith say everything is in conformance when we’re here because of violations?” asked Pope.

Ruhland explained the uses were in conformance with the application since they are allowed uses with the permit under county codes. Summers gave the second and the motion passed with Simpkins, Ruhland and Summers voting in favor and Pope and Massey voting against it.