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Judge JB Cox this past week handed down his decision from the Feb. 14 hearing on the writ of mandamus for a stop work order on one barrelhouse being built by Jack Daniel’s based on a petition filed against the county on Jan. 30 by Christie Long. She is 50% owner of ShaeJo LLC, located at 817 Lynchburg Highway, which is adjacent to property owned by Brown-Forman where seven of eight barrelhouses have been built. 

Brown-Forman, owners of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, purchased the 844 Lynchburg property in April 2012.  Construction of the whiskey barrel storage facility began in 2018. 

Planning and Zoning was adopted in 2014, but, according to Charles Hunter, building inspector, “didn’t go live until May 1, 2019,” and after that date, buildings had to have permits. 

The writ claimed neither site plans or building permits had been issued before construction began on the warehouses. 

Cox ruled that Lincoln County, through Zoning and Planning, must rescind the building permit issued Feb. 13, 2023, for one Jack Daniel’s barrelhouse under construction until the amended site plan has been approved by the Planning Commission. The ruling requires the county to “issue a stop work order until approval is obtained.” Once the amended site plan has been approved by the Planning Commission, “the Court expects Lincoln County to issue a building permit for the building under construction,” the ruling states. 

ShaeJo was purchased in 2021 as a wedding venue, and two of the barrelhouses were already constructed. Her petition asked the court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering Lincoln County “to enforce the zoning ordinance” of the county. In the petition, Long “contends that but for Lincoln County’s failure to enforce its Zoning Ordinance, there would only be two barrelhouses, and there may not have been any barrelhouses on the adjacent tract.” 

Cox said “the standing of the LLC is limited to 2021 forward. Without ownership of the tract affected by the decisions of Lincoln County, there is no standing. Therefore, the Court will only be looking at the actions of Lincoln County since 2021.” 

The position taken by Long’s counsel, Jason Holleman, principal at Nashville-based Holleman Law Group, and Grover Collins, also claimed the barrelhouses emit ethanol. The judge said in the ruling “there was no expert testimony to corroborate this claim. She could not easily articulate how the LLC has been injured by the failure of Lincoln County to properly enforce its zoning regulations. Further, allegations of damage as a result of the presence of substances that would not be present but for the warehouses being next door was also not supported in the record.” 

Likewise, the ruling stated, “Lincoln County has made a persuasive argument that there is no injury to the LLC and therefore no clear right to relief … The only complaint otherwise registered by Ms. Long is that the venue becomes very dirty as a result of being next door to the warehouses.” 

Special council for Lincoln County is Shawn Henry, an attorney with Nashville-based Tune, Entrekin & White (TEW) law firm. 

The memorandum on the hearing states, “In reality, the vast majority of the LLC’s claims, if not all of them, sound in nuisance, and they sound against Brown-Forman, not Lincoln County. Brown-Forman has not been made a party to this action and neither party has seen fit to seek Brown-Forman’s participation. 

“To restate it plainly, the LLC is actually complaining that Brown-Forman did not comply with the requirements of obtaining site approval and permits for the construction of barrelhouses adjacent to her property. Ms. Long is complaining that Brown Forman is polluting the air by storing whiskey in oak barrels next door to her. These claims really address the action of Brown-Forman and not Lincoln County. In essence, she is asking Lincoln County to do the heavy lifting for her. She has just couched this complaint against Lincoln County for its decision not to issue a stop work order to Brown Forman. The LLC is free to sue Brown-Forman should it choose to do so.” 

The third bases for Long’s petition was whether all the barrelhouses were “grandfathered in” before the planning and zoning was established in Lincoln County. 

Holleman said Jack Daniel’s purchased the property in 2012 but didn’t use it until requesting a zoning change in 2018. Based on Tennessee Code Annotated 13-7-208, he said “a property can only be considered grandfathered if the non-conforming use was active prior to the imposition of new zoning regulations, and in this case, the property had no active use until it was zoned commercial in 2018.  That commercial zoning specifically requires approval of a site plan and issuance of a valid building permit.”  

The petition stated “When petitioner raised a concern about lack of enforcement, she (Long) was told that County Mayor Bill Newman had forbidden county officials from proceeding with enforcement.” 

Cox stated, “what is clear to the Court is that, as of 2021, several warehouses had been constructed on the adjacent tract, and the LLC came to own the property with those warehouses already having been constructed.” He stated Brown-Forman didn’t seek to have site plans and amended site plans approved when constructing the warehouses. “They had been constructed without the issuance of a building permit pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance,” and no certificate of occupancy has been issued, and until recently none of the buildings had been inspected. 

He said since the creation of the Planning and Zoning, the county “has been under an affirmative duty to enforce its zoning ordinances,” which is accomplished by requiring the appropriate building permits be obtained … and requiring approval of site plans as a precursor to issuance of building permits. “The Zoning Ordinance provides for the issuance of stop work orders to compel performance.” The judge stated Long didn’t introduce the Zoning Ordinance into evidence in its case in chief. Respondent (county) filed documents which were never introduced.” 

The judge said the only action since 2021 occurred just before the hearing and after the filing of the petition, at which time Lincoln County issued a building permit for the warehouse presently construction. This act authorizes Brown-Forman to continue construction on the warehouse. “Even though the permit was issued under less than comfortable circumstances, it has been issued. Clearly, this is Lincoln County’s attempt to do the best that it could under difficult circumstances to be compliant with the ordinance. 

“However, the recent building permit was issued based on construction documents and an amended site plan that had not been approved. Therefore, the Court is constrained to issue a writ and order that the building permit be rescinded and a stop work order issue until such time as the amended site plan noted by Mr. Hunter in his testimony is approved by the appropriate authority. If the Commission approves the amended site plan, Mr. Hunter should issue another building permit to allow for construction to continue.” He said there should be cooperation between Lincoln County and Brown-Forman to “ensure that certificates of occupancy are granted upon appropriate inspection.” 

Judge Cox stated all this controversy could have been easily avoided by a determination by Lincoln County of whether the tract was grandfathered or not in light of the 2012 site plan and the 2014 adoption of the Zoning Ordinance. “If the site is grandfathered by virtue of the statute and its operation, then all of the permitting to-date would be unnecessary and improper.”