Legal Documents of Sweetwater

This district is established to provide for a wide variety of general manufacturing, fabricating, processing, distributing, and warehousing uses. Such industrial uses may result in some moderate external effects such as smoke, noise, glare, vibration, or particulate that is perceptible to adjacent land users. Land zoned for such purposes shall be free of environmental limitations, such as floodplains, steep slopes, sinkholes, and wetlands. Within the M-2 Heavy industrial district, as shown on the "Zoning Map Sweetwater, Tennessee," the following regulations and other applicable provisions of this zoning code shall apply.

1. Permitted uses.
   
   1. Those uses permitted and as regulated in the M-1 General industrial district.
   2. Recycling processing centers for construction, demolition, or other materials to be recycled and used in new products, provided the following conditions are met:
      1. All processing such as compacting, shredding, or bailing shall be within an enclosed building;
      2. All salvaging of parts or dismantling shall be within an enclosed building; and
      3. All outdoor storage shall be screened from public rights-of-way.
   3. The manufacturing from processed or unprocessed raw materials, including processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment, and packaging of such products and incidental storage, sales, and distribution of such products.
2. Uses permitted on review. The following uses may be permitted on review by the board of zoning appeals in accordance with § 14-604. The board of zoning appeals may impose additional access, drainage, site design, and other requirements as they relate to the health, safety, and welfare of the general public and surrounding properties.
   
   1. Automobile wrecking, junk, and salvage yards, provided the conditions in § 14-411 are met.
   2. Adult oriented establishments, provided the conditions in § 14-418 are met.
3. Performance standards. All uses must comply with the performance standards established in this section unless a federal, state, or local law, ordinance, or regulation establishes a more restrictive standard, in which case, the more restrictive standard applies.
   
   1. Noise. No equipment, machinery, processes, or heating/air condition systems shall generate excessive noise levels that can be heard on nearby properties during the hours of 9:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M.
   2. Glare and heat. No heat from the activity or operation shall be detectable at any point off the lot on which the use is located. Flickering or intense sources of light shall be controlled or shielded so as to not cause a nuisance across lot lines.
   3. Vibration. Earthborn vibration from the operation of any use should be minimized so as to reduce detectability off the lot on which the use is located.
   4. Dust and air pollution. Dust, noxious smells, and other types of air pollution, borne by the wind from sources within lot boundaries, shall be kept to a minimum by appropriate landscape, screening, sheltering, paving, fencing, wetting, collecting, or other acceptable means.
   5. Storage and use. The use and storage of caustic chemicals is prohibited. The storage of flammable chemicals is prohibited.
   6. Discharge and disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste. The discharge of fluid and the disposal of solid radioactive and hazardous waste material must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and regulations governing such material or waste. Radioactive and hazardous material waste must be transported, stored, and used in conformance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.
   7. Electromagnetic interference. Electromagnetic interference from any operation of any use must not adversely affect the operation of any equipment located off the lot on which such interference originates.
   8. Odors. The production of noxious odors is prohibited. Any condition or operation which results in the creation of odors of such intensity and character as to be detrimental to the public health and welfare, or which interferes unreasonably with the comfort of the public, must be removed, stopped, or modified so as to remove the odor.
   9. Fire and explosion hazards. Materials that present potential fire and explosion hazards must be transported, stored, and used only in conformance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
4. Area regulations. Buildings and other structures, except fences and signs, shall be located so as to comply with the following requirements.
   
   1. Land area. The minimum lot area shall be five (5) acres.
   2. Front yard. The minimum depth of the front yard shall be fifty feet (50').
   3. Side yard. The minimum depth of the side yard shall be thirty feet (30'). When the side yard abuts a railroad or a rail spur line, there shall be no setback.
   4. Rear yard. The minimum depth of the rear yard shall be thirty feet (30'). When the rear yard abuts a railroad or a rail spur line, there shall be no setback.
   5. Buffer strips. Buffer strips shall be provided per the landscape ordinance.
   6. General lot restrictions. More than one (1) principal building may be permitted on a single lot provided that all applicable building setbacks and parking requirements are met.
5. Access. No industrial use shall access a residential street.
6. Height regulations. No portion of a building intended for human occupancy shall exceed three (3) stories and/or thirty-five feet (35') in height.
7. Off-street parking. As regulated in §§ 14-404, 14-405, and the landscape ordinance. (as added by Ord. #772, Oct. 2004, and replaced by Ord. #984, Dec. 2020 Ch7_02-07-22)