Attorneys for Stuff Recycling owner Jerry Joiner are trying to get criminal charges for violating the county’s maintenance code and zoning ordinance dismissed, saying it conflicts with state law.

Joiner was served a summons in May charging him with one count of improper screening of a recycling establishment and two counts of violating the county’s ordinance and code in a summons filed by Clark County Attorney William Elkins.

Joiner is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Clark District Court. All charges are misdemeanors.

Joiner’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss Tuesday claiming there is no probable cause for the charges, and that the the zoning ordinance is currently under appeal, so it can not be enforced. They also argue the county’s nuisance ordinance conflicts with state law.

In the complaint, Elkins said Stuff does not meet state law which requires recycling businesses to be 100 percent screened from public view from any road. Elkins said recycling operations were visible from three roads on March 18.

In his motion to dismiss, Stuff attorney Tyler Frazier said state stature does not require a recycling business to be completely screened, but that it is hidden from motorists’ view using natural or artificial screens or natural topography, as deemed practical by the secretary of the Kentucky Department of highways.

The county’s ordinance is far stricter, Frazier wrote, and is unenforceable.

On the same day, Elkins said Stuff “was observed to be in violation” county’s zoning ordinance. He also said the business stored stripped or dismantled automobiles and other material which was visible from roads or neighboring residences for more than 30 days. Elkins said the county issued a written notice of violation on Aug. 20, 2018.

The business has been the subject of a number of complaints since a pile of material caught fire on June 9, 2018, and burned for three days. State officials have issued notices of violations, and neighboring residents have been complaining about noise and possible health concerns from the business as well as zoning concerns.

A decision by the Winchester-Clark County Board of Adjustments in 2012 allowed the business to remain at 6169 Lexington Road as a permitted non-conforming use in a B-4 zoned area. The board of adjustments added conditions that recycling operations not expand beyond the current property or in front of any buildings on the property. The current board of adjustments confirmed that decision and expanded it earlier this year to include anything used as part of recycling.

That decision is being appealed in Clark Circuit Court.