DUANE SHERRILLEditor

A move by the city board of mayor and alderman to put a historic zoning overlay on parts of Tullahoma has been sent for more study as the rights of property owners were raised into question when it comes to enforcement of zoning violations.

Tullahoma citizen Scott van Velsor spoke at the June 12 BoMA meeting concerning the establishment of the historic zoning idea and cautioned it could have dire consequences for property owners.

“It needs to be gutted like a fish,” van Velsor said concerning the historic zoning overlay, noting he has served on the historic zoning commission before. “You can see it how property owners are forced into a box on how they spend their own money but they instead refuse to do it and the buildings fall in on themselves.”

Van Velsor said he has issue on giving regulatory authority with price of penalty to people who have no property interest in the historic section.

“You end up with a situation where you don’t get economic investment which is the whole point of the historic zoning commission,” he said. “If you get a couple of grumpy members on the board or someone who does not like a property owner, they have the power to oppress that business owner.”

Alderman Jenna Amacher said she would be hesitant to sign onto the historic overlay since it is unclear what buildings are protected and which ones are not.

“It’s almost too broad,” she said, noting that she was contacted by a developer who is several million dollars into restoring some historic buildings, who is worried how such a move would impact him in the middle of his project. “I’m fine with us designating buildings we (the city) own and want to preserve those but if it is privately owned, they need to be able to opt into this.”

Alderman Daniel Berry read aloud the many rules that would come with the enforcement of a historical district which covered many details concerning the external appearance of the buildings.

“Let’s revise this,” Berry said of the historical ordinance. “We are going to appoint a body of people who have no interest financially to gain … to tell these property owners what they can and cannot do. It’s already in the ordinance. We need to change this ordinance.”

Alderman Kurt Glick agreed that the ordinance needs to be remedied. “I think the whole ordinance needs to be looked at with public input,” Glick said, asking City attorney Stephen Worsham what the city can do.

The attorney said the current historical ordinance could be replaced by a new ordinance.

“It’s no surprise we don’t follow this ordinance, we don’t follow a lot of them,” Worsham said. “It does have an impact on people that could be egregious to them frankly.”

In the end, the board decided to study the historical district ordinance to decide whether it will be repealed or revised.