JOHN COFFELTContributor

During a long and at times technical Coffee County Commission meeting on March 11, the body approved a 180-day moratorium on hearing plat approvals for subdivisions in rural county areas, while also postponing a vote on a proposed amendment that would significantly restrict developments located in those areas.

The moratorium on plat reviews for major subdivisions (five or more) in A-1 agriculture zones passed the full commission 10-8 with Commissioners Jimmy Hollandsworth, Benton Brown, Roger Chambers, Tim Brown, Joseph Hodge, Jackie Duncan, Tim Stubblefield and Lynn Sebourn offering no votes.

The moratorium, which was said to give breathing room to the Planning Commission for updates to the county zoning regulations, came to the board along with a recommendation for amendments to the county’s zoning regulations that would restrict subdivisions in A-1 areas by limiting lot sizes to a minimum of 5 acres and requiring subdivisions be only be built on roads with 50-foot right of ways while also mandating that subdivisions have adequate fire flow back to the source.   

That item was postponed until the end of the moratorium by a 14-4 vote with Commissioners Laura Nettles, Smith, Sammy Anderson and Terry Hershman voting no.

Commissioner Sebourn, who also serves as Tullahoma Mayor, said the moratorium could impact the county’s two cities’ ability to recruit retail and industry.

“This moratorium, if we pass it, is going to say something about the attitude of the entire county towards growth,” Sebourn said. “If we put it out stating that our community is interested in stopping our growth, it’s going to have a direct impact on our ability to attract businesses to Tullahoma and the city of Manchester.”

Sebourn said that if the recruitment of industry for the I-24 Industrial site came down to a manufacturer choosing between Manchester and another site “if we say we want to stop growth that could be a deciding factor whether a large industry with some great-paying jobs decides to locate here.”  

“The commission needs to understand that voting for this moratorium is a message to the entire community of people examining our community as to whether they want to come here or not,” Sebourn said.

Commissioner Benton Brown and other commissioners said the Planning Commission did not need a moratorium in place in order to continue to review the zoning amendments, a project that was started in August and that had slowed somewhat over the last months until a 39-plat development on Old Airport Road in Manchester brought the issue to the forefront of the public’s mind.

“My motion stands to postpone (implementing the moratorium) for 90 days and let the Planning Commission step up and do their job,” Brown said. “They can meet more than one time a month without having this moratorium. If they can’t do it in 90 days, then we can address it then.”

Sebourn added there is nothing stopping the county Planning Commission from working on “this right now” without a moratorium. He said that while serving on the Tullahoma Planning Commission, commission members and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen revised the city’s zoning ordinances and land use plan “while doing business as usual.”

Commissioner Tim Stubblefield asked if the Planning Commission has been working on zoning amendments for over six months, why they now need a moratorium.

“They’ve been working on this since August; they can continue on a maybe have some special call meetings instead of meeting once a month,” Stubblefield said. “My opinion is we don’t need a moratorium. We do it all the time in Budget and Finance and meet every week…to get through the budget.”

During the Feb. 25 Planning Commission meeting Chairman Steve Cunningham estimated that it costs the county $1,000 to pay members and codes staff for each meeting. The expense of holding a Budget and Finance Committee meeting with 10 members in attendance is not immediately available.

Commissioner Dowe Jones said the moratorium only stops the process of plat review.

“It does not have anything to do with application process or other actions in the process that have been submitted,” Jones said. “It is a time out to give the Planning Commission the time required to review all of the procedures in the zoning codes.”         

Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt said this was a discussion the county needs to have had.

“I feel very comfortable with myself bringing this to the attention of everyone in this county,” Hunt said.

Following the passing of the moratorium, Commissioner Dwight Miller moved to postpone a vote on the code amendments, sending the changes back to the Planning Commission to hear their recommended changes all together.

Following a second by Stubblefield, Hunt gave the floor to Cunningham to address the commission. Sebourn objected briefly, saying that the meeting (at this point nearing its third hour in addition to an hour-long public forum beforehand) had carried on long enough and that everyone present understood the issue.

Cunningham said the proposed amendments were not out of the blue.

“We have been working on these amendments over the last couple of meetings,” Cunningham said, referring to when he proposed these changes at the close of the Jan. 28 Planning Commission meeting and when they were discussed during the Feb. 25 meeting, when Hunt formally presented the 90-day moratorium.

Cunningham said the subdivision proposed on Old Airport Road on Jan. 28 was a “shot across the bow,” because it was a little different from what the Planning Commission had reviewed in the past.

Cunningham said rural growth should occur in the Urban Growth Boundary not in the A-1 district.

“The A-1 area is supposed to be for open space, agricultural and forestry…but it does allow subdivisions,” he said.

The proposed amendment, Cunningham said, is not intended to stop growth nor is it to slow growth much. He called it the first step, one of many. 

“We have to manage this growth to the best of our ability and put it where we want,” Cunningham said. “We need to decide what kind of county we want to be.”    

Miller called the postponement a pause to allow the public and commission a chance to attend Planning Commission meetings to weigh in on the matter. Cunningham estimated the review of the remainder of the zoning resolutions to take less than the 180-day moratorium. 

The resolution with an amendment to postpone passed 14-4.

Current zoning resolution uses allowed in A-1 zones include agricultural and forestry, single family dwellings, singlewide mobile homes and with a conditional approval by the Board of Appeal includes churches, airports, marinas, neighborhood shopping facilities smaller than 4,000 square feet, bed and breakfasts, government and medical facilities, restaurants and water and sewer treatment plants.

 A-1 current minimum lot size for lots without public water are 2 acres or 1 acre with city water. Lots with fire protection coverage can be 8/10 an acre in size.