Board of Zoning Appeals approves gunmaker’s plans for Andersonville
The Anderson County Board of Zoning Appeals last week cleared the way for an Israel-based gun manufacturer to operate a factory in Andersonville.
But the deal still hinges on the company purchasing an existing facility for the operation.
IWI US Inc. has told county officials that it hopes to buy the MLily USA building in the industrial park off U.S. 441/Norris Freeway, at 1485 Mountain Road, to “manufacture, produce and assemble” guns, and distribute accessories for them, including night-vision sights.
There was no opposition to the company’s application at the BZA meeting and the request was approved unanimously by the board, said Andy Wallace, president of the Anderson County Economic Development Agency.
The top official of IWI US appeared before the BZA last Tuesday night to seek a zoning variance to allow manufacturing and assembly in the building, which is now operated by MLily USA, Inc., a China-based mattress manufacturer, which has been using it as a warehouse.
IWI US, a subsidiary of the Israeli gun manufacturer IWI, plans to invest about $20 million in the project and bring about 80 new jobs to Andersonville, Wallace said.
Formerly known as Israel Weapon Industries, part of the Israeli government, IWI is now privately owned.
It was the creator of the Uzi, a popular semi-automatic rifle.
The BZA variance request also noted that the company plans to store in the Andersonville building imported night-vision sights that contain the radioactive material tritium, also known as radioactive hydrogen.
Wallace said the company is relocating to Tennessee from a Northern state. Its website says its U.S. operations are now based near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in Lower Swatara Township.
The L-shaped building on the north side of Mountain Road has about 114,000 square feet of space.
It was purchased by MLily on Oct. 28, 2020, for just under $6 million, according to Anderson County property records.
It’s less than a half-mile from the Clayton Homes factory, which sits on the south side of Mountain Road to the west.
Wallace said the company did not need the property to be rezoned, but did need a variance from the BZA for its use as a manufacturing and assembly facility.
“They were asking for an exception for something that’s already going on in that [industrial] park,” he said.
Although tritium is also used in the manufacture of atomic bombs, the miniscule amounts used in the Meprolight gun sights, made in Israel by an IWI affiliate, are safe, Wallace said. The company will not be handling bulk tritium at the plant.
East Tennessee has recently seen an influx of firearms and ammunition manufacturers moving here from Northern states where they are increasingly facing anti-gun legislation and restrictions.
“Tennessee is now the No. 1 state for firearm and ammo production,” Wallace said.
