Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

You're live, Steve. I'm live. Okay. Does anybody mind if we start two minutes early? Is that going to offend anybody in the crowd for us to start two minutes early? All right. I'm going to call this meeting of the Coffee County Planning Commission to order. October 28th, 2025 at 400 PM. Uh we're going to start this meeting. We got a huge crowd here and we're going to start this meeting with public comments. Has anybody got any public comments? He's ready. Now we have a gentleman here. He's ready to

go ahead. Mhm. I'm here to speak against the uh Don't mind come up here to this microphone, please.

Mr. uh Mr. Sandstrom, is it? Yes, Mr. Sandstrom. Uh, could you hold off on the on your comments until we get down to other? Okay. If you don't mind. Not the problem at all. Okay. Sorry to make you walk up there and go back, but we'll get back to you. I can walk. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh, I will ask for a motion to approve the agenda. I make a motion to approve it. I've got a motion from Reno to approve the agenda. I second. I have a second from Miss Laura Vasquez. All those in favor say I. I.

Uh if everybody's had a chance to read the previous minutes, I'll take a motion to approve the previous minutes. I'll make a motion to approve the previous minutes. I have a motion from Miss Lauren Nettles to approve the previous minutes. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Got a second from Sammy Anderson. All those in favor say I. I oppose. The next item is bond review. I'll turn this over to Kurt. No bonds at this time.

That was short and sweet. No bond review. Uh the next item on the agenda is zoning resolution amendment 25- ft access for building permit in the UGB. That was brought up by uh Mr. Rodney Duncan. Uh Mr. Duncan can't be here today. Uh his daughter is in the state playing for in the state soccer tournament. Good luck to them. Hope they do well. Uh, so we're going to skip that with no with no obje no objections. No. No.

Okay. Moving on. You probably just should have stayed up here. It's We're going to back We're back to other now. Mr. Sandstrom, if you'd like to come forward.

Yes. I have some concerns about the proposed Wat Farm lakes project. uh on a number of uh different uh uh points. Uh one being that uh this area is probably one of the most uh [snorts] I don't know how to put it. Uh environmentally significant areas in Tennessee. It is the headarters of both the uh Duck River and the middle fork of the Stones River. Uh and it has uh springs uh underground uh lakes and caverns. Uh and the information that I've been able to glean is that uh blasting could have irreversible uh catastrophic uh effects on that type of terrain and that if it uh is allowed to go forward uh I I I think the Duck River will be basically damaged in way that well let's let's put it this way I've done some figuring there's 60 acres that they've put aside for this they are planning on quarrying that and the depth of the uh ground of the uh uh qu uh the material they'll be cing goes down to 175 ft feet.

If you figure the number of acre feet and number of gallons of water that that if it was fully excavated and uh filled to capacity would have basically enough water in it to feed his c to water his cattle that would uh supply water for two years for uh uh Shelbyville or two years for uh uh Colombia. more than two years for Lewisburg, more than two years for uh that to water his cattle. Now, if you divert that much water, it's basically 3.4 billion gallons of water that could would be diverted from groundwater, not surface water because everything wa the water runs away from that area.

3.4 4 billion gallons of water to fill what he what he says is a lake if it's fully develop fully cried and fully and filled to capacity more than two years of water for those cities for each of those cities or and it says I don't know how you divert that much water and not have an effect a devastating effect on down river uh for communities and that says it it lies here. It lies in that particular area. That's my big concern is that uh the environmental damage is irreversible. Uh there's a lot of other things, but that's the main thing on mine is it just literally uh and the Duck River is under attack anyway is it's one what one of the three most the third most uh uh uh threatened river in the United states and then you divert that many gallons of water under from groundwater. I I I think it's unconscionable to either that and to let it go forward if it could be prevented.

Is is um that going to be coming in front of us right now? There's nothing coming in front of us. Do you mind if I speak to uh but you and Sammy are our county commissioners and if I'm not mistaken, Sammy, there was a uh unanimous vote on the county commission last meeting to send a letter to I don't know who all too, but I think to the governor to Wat and all that was the unanimous vote

to send a letter letting them basically know that uh they may get approval from TK, but Tekk basically says themselves that they don't supersede county zoning laws and as we most of us know I think the dates are 2019 and 2021 Wat was turned down to have a quarry in that area. Uh, as it stands now, it would be illegal as far as the county and county zoning laws for them to start a quarry.

Uh, now they do have the option, as any other person would, to come back. It's been a year. You have to wait a year. They could come back and ask for a change to the zoning resolution and a change to the zone. Uh, and that's where we are. That's where the county commission is as far as I know. And I have not had a chance to talk to the mayor, but I think he's on it. And uh, but we are aware of it, Mr. Sandstrom. And uh, we can't take anything. We can't take action on anything that's not before us. And this at this point in time is not before.

I understand. I and I I've been in front of this committee before twice before on the same subject except that this one again previously was in my mind it was the quarry. It was in my backyard still in my backyard but this time from the research that I've done it says it's more than a quarry for me this time. It is the Duck River. I mean, literally, it is the Duck River. You can't take that many gallons of water out of

groundwater and the Duck River not being significantly damaged by that. And that's that's where I'm coming from right now is that Yeah. a quarry I I don't want a quarry in my backyard, but downstream Yeah. Doesn't downstream on downstream from Beach Grove there. Doesn't War Trace and Chevable in fact I know they do get the water out of the Duck River. Yeah, I I have the research I've done. I know I I've not checked War Trace. I still But I know that uh uh Lewisburg, Shelbyville, Columbia,

Columbia, uh Columbia, Spring Hill all take water out of there at significant amounts and each of those could uh could be supplied. Each of those cities could be supplied for over two years from what would fill that particular quarry. And they're saying that's what the purpose is to dig it so that they can have water for their cattle, which they have already. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

The the other part of it is that I I Waters have about 700 cattle. They're neighbors. Uh that's about what they run normally, about 700 head of cattle. Uh they have a mixture of both uh dairy cattle and beef cattle. uh they milk roughly something less than maybe approaching 100 head of uh dairy cattle. A dairy cow will uh drink up to 50 gallons of water when it's being milked uh and they have about a hundred head of those I would say that are being milked on a constant basis. Let's say that all 700 of them were drinking 500 gallons of water or 50 gallons of water a day. The two lakes that he says here that are six six acres, those two lakes, if they were dug three foot 3 in deep and filled with water, would supply his cattle for a year. if they had no other water supply. Now, he has been watering his cattle there for decades.

And I have not seen one yet that has died of thirst. In fact, part of them actually water out of the upper end of the Doug River, the Garrison. Yeah, they they there are Yeah. He's not wanting for water as far as I can tell. Mhm.

Uh but like I say, given those given two lakes that he says he needs to dig that are six acres each, if you if you go through the math, three foot 3 in deep, each one of them would feed his cattle if they had no other source of water for a year. And yet he's saying this is to supplement and he needs 60 acres and as much as 175 ft deep to supplement his uh cattle. It it says to me quarry. It has nothing to do with cattle or anything else. It says quarry to me. Now I'll stop my my son wanted to say something about this. He's affected too. Good evening. I'm Cam Sandstrom. Uh I'm Neighbors. Um I've uh been doing some uh I've talked [clears throat] with uh Jeff Klein up at T Deck and I've been collecting some information. I've been following up with them. Also been u in fact I talked with him today about the progress of uh the permit. Uh T deck deals with uh specifically with surface water. Um so the environmental impacts of this uh to the Duck River to uh the Middle Fork, the Stones River, uh any of the underground uh features, uh water sources, that is not anything that T deck deals with. They deal specifically with surface water. So you'd be uh talking about storm water runoff and things of that nature. Um, in talking with uh Jeff Klein at T Deck, the purpose of these lakes uh is they are two lakes, six acres in size. The

specific purpose of those is for settling ponds for [laughter] mining or quarrying operation. Anytime that you have rain, anytime that you have surface water, you have debris that gets washed away. So in a quaring operation that is uh limestone dust which then becomes suspended solids and water and in order for a core not to get shut down. The things that will shut them down is too much uh limestone dust suspended solids going into a a body of water or the pH content being too high. So the purpose of those uh lakes are settling pond is to be settling ponds to settle out those suspended solids so that a quaring operation can continue without being shut down by the state. So, as we've already talked about, uh, and has been brought up, uh, this has been before this body twice, has been shut down twice, but Terrell Wat is still pursuing, actively pursuing a quarry. Um, he's applied for the permit to put in two settling ponds for the purpose of a quarry. is spec specifically states in this application which is 135 pages. So that shows intent. You don't finish a 135page application if you don't intend to move forward with the project that you're working on. Um the entrance is off Gossber Highway uh in between uh Norton Branch and Carol Wat's uh home. Now, the

permit that is being applied for allows for aif specifies a 56 foot water crossing uh or 36 inch culberts 56t in length to be able to cross a creek to access this 60 acres that we're uh that is currently being they're currently asking for the state to give them permission to quarry that uh if you go down Manchester highway, uh, Manchester Highway, depending on where you go on the road, you're looking about a maximum of 36 ft from shoulder to shoulder. So, we're not talking about some small access to a lake so that I can water my cattle. Um, the permits shows otherwise. And there is also a proposed second entrance or second access point off of Sutton's branch. And Terrell has since he's been shut down the last uh the last couple times he has purchased that property. So everything shows intent to bypass this body and ignore what has been previously decided that this is A1 zoning. It's agriculture and everything that has been done since that point. Everything with this permit shows complete and total disregard for what this body has previously stated and that is that there will be no quarry there. uh ignore the environmental, ignore the impact, ignore what the county has said, proceed and try to get away with it. That is uh that's what I'm seeing. I

don't know if you all see the same thing there, but that's what I see. Um everything here says I intend to move forward with this. Nobody puts in that much effort and goes through that expense to get engineering firms to come in and draw up all the plans for putting in roads, putting in creek crossings, building lakes, having to have dams at a specified height. That all has to be uh and the word just lo just just escaped me. But all of that has to be surveyed and mapped and all that costs money. Nobody does that unless they intend to follow through and move forward with that type of project. And I understand y'all can't do anything until it gets before you. I don't think the intent is ever to come before you again because you've been he's been told no. Everything to me points out that I got the wrong answer. It's not the one I want. I'm going to proceed anyway. Um, I have done some uh done some research just to give you an idea of uh what one of the drivers behind this. This isn't one of the this isn't the first time this has been tried. Uh this just a a venture of this nature just got shot down in Marshall County here recently. Um the same engineering firm that was that uh worked on the engineering for that one is the same engineering firm that put in the application for Terrell. Okay. Um money drives things like this. Um to give you an idea of the figures that are behind this um

I have information that uh has been uh shared with me that uh ballpark I can't give you specifics on that uh but ballpark you're looking between 65,000 to aund,00 000 a year uh potential income to a person that builds something like this on their property. Uh quarrying operations will pay roughly oh anywhere from 75 cents to a dollar and a quarter a ton for every ton of rock hauled off of a quarry site to whoever the land they're leasing or that they purchase it from. And that's in perpetuity. It's not just for two or three years. That's in perpetuity. Um, and they typically go in and put in minimums. Yes.

I'm going to stop you right there. If you don't mind you, you giving us probably enough specifics. I think we've gotten the point. Okay. Uh, if this comes back before us, of course. Please come back. Yes. Uh, couple of things I'd like to point out. Uh or I'd like to ask Sammy for You weren't there, were you, at that last meeting? No. Uh that was a pretty strong effort from the county commission to send this letter. Yes. And we don't know if it's been sent yet or not. Do not. Okay. Could you take care of that for us? I will.

Okay. Uh and as I if I'm not mistaken, time is of the essence. Is that correct? So, yes, time is of the essence. Um I'll tell you the uh as of today uh as of today um last time that uh we had the full commission meeting um we were looking at uh roughly 45 days before work could commence on this. Um the uh they were just waiting for some updates to the

paper you're breaking 30 days now you think? Uh uh no we are not thankfully. I talked with uh Jeff Klein at T Deck today and the corrections that uh he required to complete the permitting process have not been sent to the engineers. So because they have the engineers have not received that they cannot move forward until Wats move forward with making the corrections to their deficiencies. So we are still waiting for them to get that done. There's still when that gets done, we're still looking at two weeks for them. Once WAT's finished their part, then they can move forward with that and then the clock starts then, but at this point in time, we're still uh we're still in li they're still in limbo. They can't they cannot complete the permit at this point in time.

Thank you. the uh if I'm not mistaken 30 days before when they do the permit 30 days before the permit is actually final they have to have a signs put up. Yes. And also public uh comments and and public comment correct 30 days before.

Yeah. Yes. So, um they figured but from uh from the point they have uh the deficiencies in the permit corrected to final uh final completion of the permit or full approval of the permit two weeks. Then they have a 30-day uh public comment period which public comment is limited to surface water which is what they deal with. And then after that uh 30 days uh if nothing is done during that point in time to uh through public comment to stop it, they can then proceed with uh going through and uh building their lakes.

M you say did you have you seen that letter? You have? Yes. They it's already been sent then as far as I know. I think and I have some information here if you all would like that that I can give each one each one of you on some of this. Okay. Okay. And it was it was drawn up by the county attorney. Correct. That's who they said it was going to draw. Well, I was just wonder I think at this particular time, and I know wants to hear this, but I think we're doing I think the mayor and the attorney and the county commission are doing everything Yep.

that they can do. I do want to point out something and I was very impressed with Mr. Sanderson's talk. Uh, I don't know what it is about Coffee County, but we don't get some respect sometimes. Uh, maybe I'm a little uh maybe that goats me a little bit, but uh uh the mayor or the governor just appointed a Duck River, I don't know the name of the committee, Duck River Association or something. of all the counties that touch Duck River, we don't have anybody on that committee, and it's where the damn thing starts. Excuse my language. So, you know, I don't know where that comes from, but we don't have anybody on that committee. Uh, every other county is represented, uh, starting with Bedford and on down through. But uh uh I think it's a very important thing. I think it's actually the second or third most diverse river in the world, not just not just the United States. Uh and it it it waters a lot of people.

Not not counting the livestock. It waters a lot of people. Uh would any of y'all like any of this information I have here? Sure. I would. Yeah. Now, I want to I want to make sure that everybody understands that Wat does have the option to come back here.

They can come back here and present their case in front of the planning commission. Whether we recommend it or not, it still goes if they sold the tire to the full commission and the full commission makes the makes the final decision. So, in all fairness, I want to make get both sides of this in. Okay. Thank you very much. We appreciate it, M. Mr. Sandstrom. Appreciate what you said. Uh, anybody got any comment about any of this? I was laughing at this.

Anybody any [clears throat] other comments? Any motions to adjurnn? Hey, I can do that. [laughter] I'll make the motion to adjurnn. I'll second. I got a motion to adjurnn and a motion by uh Sammy and a motion seconded by Randy.