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In response to a stop work order on one Jack Daniel’s barrelhouse, the Lincoln County Commission approved a resolution last week to correct the lack of proper procedure and/or the waiver of on-site development plans, building permits, building code changes and the waiver of fees. The recommendations were made by the county’s outside counsel as part of Chancery Court Judge JB Cox’s ruling and recommendations made in January following a petition filed against the county.

The petition for a writ of mandamus claimed neither site plans nor building permits had been issued before construction began on the barrelhouses. The petition was filed by Christi Long, who is 50% owner of ShaeJo LLC which operates the Manor at ShaeJo located at 817 Lynchburg Highway. The Manor at ShaeJo is adjacent to the Brown-Forman property where seven of eight barrelhouses have been built. Long said the zoning should be I-1 Industrial because the distilled spirits are hazardous material.

The resolution was listed on the agenda as “Zoning Analysis of Whiskey Barrel Warehouse Storage” to be presented by Attorney Shawn Henry, the county’s outside counsel. However, Commissioner Doug Cunningham, who serves as chairman of the budget committee and is one of three budget subcommittee commissioners, said the recessed budget committee met earlier on Tuesday with Attorney Henry present. “We went into executive session with the attorney. Commissioners were able to ask him questions about what we’re supposed to do legally here,” Cunningham said. “This resolution was written by him, basically carrying out the judge’s orders — Judge Cox’s orders — from a recent case we had. That’s the gist of the resolution.”

During the Commission meeting, Cunningham asked if anyone hadn’t had the chance to read the resolution, adding, “Mr. Mayor will give you a chance to read it.” None of the commissioners present requested time to read the resolution. District 4 Commissioner Mary Ann Tackett was absent.

Mayor Bill Newman reiterated the budget committee unanimously approved the resolution. “What is the wishes of the commission?” he asked. Commissioner David Sanders made the motion to approve the resolution. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Kate Guin and all present voted in favor.

Citizens present during the meeting were immediately heard asking why the resolution wasn’t read aloud. After the meeting, Cunningham was asked the same question. “Tuesday, when we had the subcommittee meeting and went into the executive session, we got served with a second petition (writ of mandamus). We were hesitant to say much at the Commission meeting because we didn’t know what was in that suit.”

Last November, the County Commission approved for a budget subcommittee “to hire an attorney to analyze the impact of some procedural missteps that occurred regarding the permitting process for commercial warehouses belonging to the Brown-Forman Corporation.” Commissioners Jason Hambrick, David Sanders and Cunningham make up the subcommittee. They hired Shawn Henry, an attorney with Nashville-based Tune, Entrekin & White (TEW) law firm.

According to Cunningham, Henry’s first order of business was to determine the proper zoning for a warehouse containing distilled spirits. In 2018, records show the County Commission passed a zoning change for the Lincoln County property located at 844 Lynchburg Highway in Mulberry. The motion was to rezone from A-1 agriculture to C-1 commercial for warehousing.

Cunningham said Henry was asked to research the zoning. He was also asked to investigate how Lincoln County could legally correct the procedural mistakes that were made.

Cunningham said copies of Henry’s original draft were presented to the commissioners with the intent to discuss it at the February budget meeting, “but we got sued and had to use our research to defend ourselves and because we were in litigation, we couldn’t release our information publicly because it would jeopardize our case.” Cunningham said. “Mr. Henry’s research on the zoning issue determined that our original determination was correct and that any warehousing containing distilled spirits in wooden barrels would be considered C-1, not I-1. So the property in County, which presently has warehousing for whisky, is properly zoned C-1.”

Judge 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 building permit was issued hours before the hearing convened the following morning for the warehouse presently under construction. He said the building permit, issued Feb. 13, was based on “construction documents and an amended site plan that hadn’t been approved. Therefore, the Court is constrained to issue a writ and order that the building permit be rescinded, and a stop work order issued until such time as the amended site plan … is approved by the appropriate authority.”

That meant the ruling required 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.

When Judge Cox handed down the stop work order, 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.