JOHN COFFELT Contributor

A critical step in the building process for the proposed new Health Department facility was approved by the Coffee County Planning Commission at the June 25 meeting.

The site plan for the 11,211 square-foot facility to be located at the Joint Industrial Park on the New Tullahoma Highway was presented by Scot St. John.

 “We have coordinated with – and the (Interim County Mayor Dennis Hunt) has been involved in meetings with the state of Tennessee Department of Health, working through the floor plan and the site plan in general, St. John said”

St. John noted his firm is pretty well finalized on the floor plan as well. He said the thinking was to get the site plan approved early and possibly bid out the site work separate from the building process.    

The site plan includes 43 parking spaces and storm water retention on two sides of the building.

St. John added the site plan is required to meet Coffee County zoning resolutions plus the Industrial Board’s required setbacks for buildings and parking areas.

The Industrial Board regulations concerning parking involves mostly setbacks for pavement and parking while the county’s zoning regulations set a number of parking spaces for a given structure.

The building was originally planned to share the property with a proposed Tennessee College of Applied Technology campus, which also had the site pushed into the side setback.

“When it was TCAT … decided not to come in here, we were able to loosen it up, shift it back and be off of those setbacks,” St. John said.