Between 1963 and 1966, Clifford Henry bought 43 acres of land in Cherokee County, put the property in his wife’s name, and began operating an automobile salvage yard on the property. In 1969, Cherokee County zoned the Henry property as industrial, a classification under which the automobile salvage yard was an appropriate use. In 1992, Cherokee County enacted a new zoning ordinance that reclassified the property as light industrial, a classification which does not permit automobile salvage yards and thus rendered Henry’s salvage business a legal nonconforming use. In December 1997, Milton Blankenship purchased 15 acres of the Henry property, leaving Henry with a 28-acre lot upon which he has continued to operate his automobile salvage yard. On the15-acre tract, Blankenship drained a lake, graded more than an acre of land and began installing a car shredder —a large piece of equipment into which whole cars are fed and which then shreds the cars into small pieces of about five to seven inches.
Cherokee County filed a petition for injunction against Henry and Blankenship, alleging that they have expanded the nonconforming use of the property —the automobile salvage yard —in violation of the county zoning ordinance.1 A bench trial was held, and the trial court ruled in favor of the county. As to Henry, the trial court found that he had violated the zoning ordinance by expanding his automobile salvage yard over his entire 28-acre lot, ordered that no additional cars be placed on the lot and directed Henry to create a 50-foot buffer with a fence around the perimeter of his entire lot. As to Blankenship, the trial court found that the car shredder violates the ordinance, and ordered him to remove it from the property and cease the car shredding business.
