NATCHEZ &045; Residents of the Lansdowne community petitioned the Board of Supervisors Monday to stop construction of a scrap metal operation in their neighborhood.

And such concerns led supervisors to place a moratorium &045; probably until the fall &045; on location of industrial buildings in residential areas.

&uot;Our concern is safety, unsanitary conditions and devaluation of property values,&uot; said spokesman LeRoy Hunt Jr., adding &uot;a loss in property value will translate into a loss of tax revenue for Adams County.&uot;

Hunt’s house is located in the 1300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Road adjacent to the site where a new location of Andrews Metal is being built. That is just past a location many in Adams County refer to as &uot;Dead Man’s Curve.&uot;

Traffic already speeds through the area, with serious accidents common, Hunt pointed out. &uot;Bringing in tractor-trailer trucks, automobile crushers and other industrial-type machinery will only add to the hazards we face daily,&uot; he said.

Hunt submitted photos of Andrews Metal locations on U.S. 61 North and in McComb for supervisors’ review. &uot;Unsightly metal scraps Š will be allowed to pile up around the facility,&uot; Hunt said. &uot;This will create poor curb appeal for this north Natchez area.&uot;

&uot;It scares me to think that I’ve invested this type of money in a house, and overnight it could be gone,&uot; said Calvin Harris, Hunt’s

neighbor.

John Andrews, owner of Andrews Metal, could not be reached for comment.

After residents aired their concerns, supervisors voted to place a moratorium on the construction of industrial buildings in residential areas until the county receives its comprehensive plan.

Supervisors also gave their attorney, Marion Smith, the authority to file a motion for an injunction against Andrews Metal if the company does not cease construction of the Martin Luther King Jr. Road location.

&uot;We’re not against business,&uot; said supervisors President Lynwood Easterling. &uot;It’s just the location.&uot;

The comprehensive plan is a document that addresses what Adams County’s needs will be up to 20 years in the future in terms of such things as transportation and public facilities.

The plan will also include recommendations on land use, such as what areas should be zoned for industrial, commercial and residential use.

The Jackson-based Central Mississippi Planning and Development District is about two weeks away from finishing maps for the land use part of the plan, said Larry Smith, a senior planner for the district.

The district has been working on the plan since the late 1990s, but the plan was held up after a geographic information systems employee working on the project died of cancer about two years ago, Smith said.

He said the entire comprehensive plan should be finished in the fall.

Another way to curb the effects of the scrap metal business would be to enforce the county’s existing regulations on cleanup of properties, Smith said.

Still another would be for the sheriff’s office to write citations or make arrests if the operation endangered public safety &045; such as if a large piece of metal fell from a truck into the road, Smith said.

The state Department of Environmental Quality has said it can do nothing about the situation because such sites do not involve hazardous waste, said supervisors Vice President Darryl Grennell.

Grennell, along with Easterling, went to see the Martin Luther King Jr. Road site Friday.

&uot;It’s going to be an eyesore and a big-time hazardous, Š and it would have a devastating effect on property values,&uot; Grennell said.