Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

seated and come to order. The May 8th, 2025 meeting of the Dixon County Planning Commission is now beginning. Uh Mr. Ramy, if you would like to direct our minds for a second, I'd appreciate. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for another day. Thank you for another opportunity to to serve. We thank you for the privilege that you allow us to serve our county. Now, we ask that you give us knowledge and wisdom as we conduct the business of that on tonight. Thank you that you're doing everything in advance. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Uh we're pleased to see we have several visitors this evening. This is a public body and everything we do is out in the open and for public consumption. We're glad you're here exercising your rights as a citizen of the United States in the state of Tennessee and the county of Dixon. Uh has everyone seen the minutes that were provided to you? Sir, Mr. Ch, could you roll first? If Yeah, that'd be good to Would you Would you do that for us, Mr. His? Would you call the RO here? Tina Ferris here. Aaron Green here. Lindsay, Paul here. Tommy Brown here. Ch here. Randy Ramy here. Amanda Barry here. Patrick here. Mitchell heart present. I appreciate you're reading the role for us, Mr. Trace, uh, we are at this time going to ask for members of the Dixon County public that have already signed in to speak for three minutes. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. That's right.

We bear with me a minute. Everyone's received a copy of the minutes of the last meeting. Does anyone have any additions, corrections, anything that needs to be changed about the minutes of the way they presented? And if not, I'll entertain a motion to approve those minutes as presented. I move the minutes be approved. Motion made by Mr. Brown, second by Mr. Chase to approve the minutes as read. Is there any further discussion on this motion? Those who favor the motion signify by stating I. I. I. Any oppose? Nay. The opinion of the chair. The eyes have it. The motion to approve the minutes is hereby approved. Now we would like to ask members of the Dixon County public who have already registered in advance to speak on the any issue before the planning commission at seven. So, four minutes, please piece. Three minutes. Okay. All right. We would like for the interest since there's considerable interest in public comment this evening, we would like you to limit your time speaking to three minutes a piece if you can do that. And I'm going to call you in the order you signed in starting with Scott Burer of Thompson Road. Thank you, sir. Basically, my position is I'd like to thank every one of you, ladies and

gentlemen, for being here tonight. Everybody's got lives. Everybody's got families. And I appreciate you taking the time to come out tonight. I'd like to cut touch on a couple of points and go back a few years and my relationship with Tennessee Steel Buildings. I own two farms in the Yellow Creek community. Both the farms are in close proximity to Tennessee Steel Buildings. One's about 2 and 1/2 miles and other one's about 3 and 1/2 miles as the crow flies. In the past seven years, I've done about $200,000 worth of business with Tennessee Steel Buildings between my farms and the farm that I manage. And that being said, the farm that I manage in December this past year, we lost 110 by 40 foot wood building. We lost it right before Christmas. We lost it in a windstorm. We had over a half a million dollars of equipment and tools that were setting out. We had nowhere to go with it on the farm. I manage. I contacted the owners of Tennessee Steel. They scheduled overtime. They ran a building on the weekends and we demoed the building that blew down and had a new building up in 11 work days. And that was something that meant a lot to me was that we had an opportunity to protect our equipment. And the neat part about that comment is is the wood building that blowed down had a Tennessee steel building right beside it close to the same size without a scratch, no damage. Warranty. One of the examples I'd like to go to out of the seven, eight buildings that have been built, I had a visit from Tennessee Steel four years after building a building for us and they came in and they stripped it down, took all the steel structure off because they received a bad load of steel. We didn't call, we didn't ask for them to do the warranty work. They done

the warranty work on their own without us even asking. And I guess from my standpoint, you look at what they've done right now. They're in contract with Houston County Board of Education. Houston County has a deep interest in bringing back their CTE program. And what that is, that's a program for children graduating high school who maybe don't want to go to college or are not a good candidate. They're trying to back bring back a trades program so that they can give their children something to do other than look at college or the military so they can learn a trade. And I look at the bid, I was told by the gentleman who issued the bid, the closest bid to Tennessee Steel Buildings was $5,000 off in price. Relationship is the last thing I want to talk about. Um, I've been to these gentlemen's homes. I've celebrated accomplishments of their children before. They've been to mine and done the same. It's been a very good relationship as far as business and personal. And they've been very very good to me. I have have no issue with it. And I just want to recap and talk about the things that we talked I went over tonight. First being community. Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry. I know it it's been over three minutes. We appreciate your comment. The next person will call. I'm CW Wade. I've been living in that neighborhood since 1973. They're the best neighbors I ever

had. If a sawmill down there feel there's so much smoke in my house, I couldn't hardly stay up there sometimes at night. And I know the neighbors down there had to be cuz they ready to fill the hill. These boys has done a great job for me. I've had three buildings built for them. They done good work and at a fair price. I recommend they stay there and do their work as long as they can. Thank you. Next person I have down is James Re10 right so I'll try to keep this short. Um I moved to Nubbing Ridge four and a half five years ago. moved in my house November 3rd. Um my daughter moved there shortly after. My son beat me there. Um I uh got nine grandkids and one on the way. I bought 43 acres to move out to the country. I don't have a problem with the business. I've been in construction for most of my life. Been a construction manager for 27 years. I can appreciate the quality. I can appreciate the uh the overall business and the ethic. But I moved to the country. Dixon's changing. I was told we didn't let a Starbucks come here because we didn't want that part of the city coming here. I work in Nashville and uh I feel like my heart rate's coming up because I take it personally. I bought 43 acres so my kids and my grandkids could grow on this land, so they could have a place. Um when when I moved out there, they had a small business, didn't care. They grew, they grew, and they grew. Um, I feel like it's not the right place for it. I

feel like they need to, uh, you know, slow it down. I feel like they did not follow code. Um, like I said, I deal with codes officials all the time. And, uh, for lack of a better way to say it, the violations I've seen, the semis that I've almost hit in the morning, my granddaughter almost had an accident. um the infrastructure that's there isn't designed for what they did and what they're doing. Nothing personal against them. I understand we're all in it to do our business. We build what we build and we want to grow. We want to make money. That's what we do. But I also want to go home to a place that I can get away and I cannot be part of the city. So that's why I moved to Dixon. I thought Dixon was a great place was and I'm looking forward to my retirement here, but I'd love to see my grandkids stay here. And I feel like it being what it is. If it ever closes, it becomes commercial. It can be anything. It could turn into anything. And then we'll have to fight that battle. If we lose this battle, I don't know. Feels like it's not going to be the place I want to live anymore. So, I am not for it. I appreciate you guys and girls being here. I appreciate everybody here because this is uh it's time out of our night. It's time out of our day. You're going to hear from my daughter and my son here in a minute. That's um and uh they won't say as much, but I would like to say that uh you know, like I said, I got a 10th grandchild coming. I've got another daughter that doesn't live here. She is moving out. We're going to build a house soon. We'll be talking because I'll have to get a permit. Um, but I'd love to know that my 10 grandkids are going to be able to grow up here and uh have a good life, a quiet life. So, thank you for viewer time, Mr. Root. I would like to say one thing. This body

had nothing to do with Starbucks pro or con. Thanks. 2434 Drive. Good evening. I'm Ashley Moffett. Um I'm his daughter. We moved out here. I've only got two of the grandchildren. Um and like you said, we came to the country to stay in the country. Nothing against the business. Um it is growing a lot. Lots of bright lights. When I'm going to work in the morning, when I'm coming home from baseball at night with my son, it's kind of blinding. It is what it is. Nothing against them, but I do fear it becoming commercial, growing, and I don't want to see another Dollar General be popping up over there. um or a Mexican restaurant, you know, and not so against that one, but um you know, I want to say a small country, small country vibes and stuff, but that's just my thought on the matter. Thank you guys. Next person I have down is Dylan Root of 2404 Nubbing Ridge Road. How everybody for having me come speak up here. I'm going to repeat too much of what they've said because as you are aware they are my family. Uh I was extremely blessed for my dad to have the opportunity to buy that land and us move out there and him blessed me with the opportunity as well to move out there live with my family. I have four of the grandchildren, one on the way due in June. And part of the reason, like they said,

I moved out there primarily for the quiet life cuz grew up in Clarksville. Not a fan of it. Don't not a big person, but hence the fact we move out there. Uh, I would love for my kids to be able to grow up out there and flourish, learn agriculture, do that, have that lifestyle of being quiet, just everything being quiet, being able to live their lives, enjoy, have the freedom of roaming around and not having to worry and me as a parent not having to worry about them disappearing. And that's that's a little bit of a touchy subject for me, but realistically love hunting, love fishing. We hunt out there. It's And nothing against these gentlemen. I know they have a job to do. They're business owners. They're doing their thing. I can't be mad about that. I work in construction just like my dad. I ain't obviously been doing anywhere near as long, but I'm getting close to having as amount of gray hairs as he does. Uh, so I understand it. I respect them. And I just really really like that little piece, that little piece of quiet and that that own area to stay that way. gotten closer with a few of the other people out there and I'm a big fan of having nothing but cows really as my neighbors. So that's all I have. Thank you for your time, Mr. Root. Uh Steve Kernut, is that correct? Sir, might be one of the first ones to ever announce that correctly. I'll pass. I try hard. You got to get up, too. Thank

you. Um, before my time sp starts, I I'm actually here in two capacities. I'm a a board member of the Sylvia Yellow Creek Fire Department, and they've asked me to provide comments, and they're distinctly different than mine as a property owner. If you can kind of give us the highlights of both, we'd be very appreciative, but I'd be able to take three minutes for each of those. I I don't No, sir. That's why you need to be highlights both. My name is Steve Kernut, and I really appreciate the time. Um I uh uh in my capacity as a board member, I'll speak first. Um Sylvia Yellow Creek Fire Department is just right there on Edgewood. Um very close to where Tennessee Steel Buildings is and very close to where I live. The um the uh fire chief and some others wanted to be here. They had some uh scheduling conflicts. The concern of the fire hall is uh strictly just with public safety, their ability to respond. There are no fire hydrants in the area. The uh the truck that we have can only have 2,800 gallons. There's no way if there were a fire there that um that that could be dealt with with the resources that this fireh hall has. And in fact, if there were a problem, other districts would have to be called and those resources would be brought in, which would then make them not available if there were another emergency somewhere else. Um, there are lots of blockages that happen on the road. It's a very narrow two-lane road, Nubbing Ridge. And when those blockages are there, um, if there was an emergency, uh, the emergency vehicles could not pass. And they happened at different times of the morning, night, day. Uh there's no because there was no uh proper permit I believe pulled the fireh hall was never consulted which means that this all evolved and groom was built without any consents or ability of the fire hall to inspect. So how do they get in and out of the gate? How would we park trucks? Where are the

power shut offs for the buildings if there was an emergency? Where are those plans? Those are the concerns of the fireh hall. And I think I wanted to make sure to not blend my own personal concerns with those of the fireh hall. So, I'll switch now to my own thoughts. Um, I've got five parcels there. Um, a couple of houses that are on the road and then uh an empty lot and then where my wife and I and uh family live. We're only about 2,000 ft. Uh, most of those parcels from Tennessee steel buildings. Um the infrastructure there is not able to contain the business activity. There's a guardrail at the corner of Yellow Creek and and Ed and uh Edgewood that is frequently damaged trucks concrete truck one time. One time a big tractor trailer pulled on it. It's damaged multiple times a year at a huge cost. There's no ingress and egress turning lanes. Um the lights are bright for sure, but I think those could probably be solved. Um I can very much appreciate the comments of Mr. Beller and CWA have a deep amount of respect for and uh certainly I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. I have nothing against somebody uh making money and creating jobs, economic prosperity. It just shouldn't happen in a place where uh it can't handle it. The the the infrastructure of that area simply cannot handle the traffic, the number of employees, the cars. Um, in the time that I've been there, 10 years, um, the amount of traffic has exploded to the point that I don't even want to go to go up to the, um, my time's over. Sorry. Thank you. Can't read your name, but you live at 2099 Walnut Road. Come up, introduce yourself, and make your job.

My name life and my my my issue is more on a countywide concern, not just a Yellow Creek concern. If [Music] you spot zoning is a bad precedent to set throughout the county, what what are you going to do the next time? How are you going to justify telling somebody else that no, you can't do that? You just go ahead and build your building and and and then go and then go get it approved. It's a terrible precedent to set for spot zoning in an agricultural area. My issue has no no personal issue. They do a good business. I do construction work myself. I I appreciate that. But I just think it's a bad terrible precedent to set, you know, to come after the fact like get and I I wish somebody here would tell me how we got to this point. How do we get to this point to have such a facility and as I understand it, no building permits, no environmental impact study, no traffic study, no site plan. How do you even get electricity hooked up to it? You got to have all that before you can get I I just don't understand how it got to the point. And that's my whole issue because it becomes a concern for the whole county. That that's that's my point. Not a personal issue, but I think it's just sets a terrible precedent for the county. You know, if if if we if we got rules and that we got supposed to go by and you get permits and you get this and this get and then everybody have to do everybody should have to go by those rules and you're setting the president

if this goes by and if you do don't resone this land. Let them operate on a variance. So, in the event that they were to ever leave, and I I don't know that they will, but in the event that they did, don't leave that property sitting there already zoned commercial, cuz then it can be anything. It can be a chicken slaughter house or it can it can be anything once it's reszone. Let them operate if if if that if that is what you failed to do, let them operate on a barren. I know that's legal because I talked to an attorney. That's a legal thing, but my I I just feel like it's a bad precedent set for the whole county. If we got rules, then everybody should have to go by them and get approval on the front end, not the back end. That's my only issue. Well, not Mr. We're not discussing zoning at commercial. Commercial is a different zone. Right. Yeah, Mr. Chairman, we could we could have a debate on that. Okay. Well, we we'll we'll do that when we get to it then. Okay. All right. Councelor, is it more appropriate for anyone from Tennessee steel buildings to speak when the where that actually comes up to the agenda? Because we have two agenda items before there's any consideration of of I got to part for the horse. Is that No, you you spoke during the time for public comment. It just turned out that in this instance, the third item on the agenda was the one that the members of the public who wish to speak wish to speak on, but you're fine. Okay. Appreciate your comments and your time and your thought and interest. Okay. At this time, we're going to move to the agenda. And item number one on the agenda is the site plan for Tennessee Commercial Electric LLC tax map 135, partial

24.06, 2.21 21 acres of western hills, Tennessee C2 commercial 7th district. This site plan was prepared by Dunigan Family Land Surveying for Tennessee Commercial Electric. The property borders Highway 46 South, but the entrance will be located on West Iron Hill Road. The property will be surrounded by a landscape buffer on all sides with perimeter security lighting. The adjoining properties are currently zoned A1 agricultural and used for farming purposes. Thank you. Well, I think we all heard very well that description of this action. What is the will of the commission on this issue? Yes, Mr. Ch. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh have we heard from our esteemed uh person who checks all of our checks and balances etc etc who usually sits in that chair we yeah everything okay just ask obviously we know it se areas around it which are agriculture okay um I this is in my district I have seen this property previously. Um, and at this point, um, I don't have any objections to the site plan issue that we are at at this moment. Mr. Chase, is that a motion for the approval of the site plan? Yes, it is. Okay. It's been duly moved that the site plan of Tennessee Commercial Electric LLC be approved. Is there a second? Commissioner Brown seconds. Is there any

more discussion on this item? Hearing none. Those in favor of the motion to approve the site plan for Tennessee Commercial Electric LLC signify by saying I. I. All those opposed? No. Opinion chair is the eyes have it and the item is approved. The next item on the agenda is the site plan for you storage 101 parcel 16.0. 02 1.67 67 acres 3066 highway 70 east Burns Tennessee C1 Rural Center 10th District. This site plan was prepared by XL Land Company for use store storage facility. This pro property was recently reszoned from C2 general commercial back to C1 rural center district to allow for self- storage units. There will be a chainlink fence surrounding the property and they will use a type C option three landscaping buffer along with the existing vegetation. Thank you. Uh we appreciate your your very succinct summary of this. Mr. Hayes, is there does is there anyone that wants to address this? If not, is there a motion to approve item number two, the site plan for use storage? Uh this is my district. So I have a question. Please address us, Mr. Thank you. I have a question. Um it just kind of goes um along what the prior meeting had. I see that now there is a road between the Armgate Island and the first row of buildings. How wide is that road? Yeah. Um actually this here to access the first row of a Okay. Okay.

Do you have any more questions, Merry? Uh no. I think that'll do it. Does anyone else on the commission have any questions for the applicant before we proceed to a motion and a vote? The chair will entertain a motion to approve the site plan for use store storage. I'll motion to approve. Motion by Miss Barry. Is there a second? Second. Okay, we've got the second right there. All right. Is there any further discussion on the motion before we go to the vote hearing? None. on on the uh item which is the site plan for use storage tax map 102 parcel 160.02 1.67 acres 3066 highway 70 east Burns. Those in favor of the motion to approve the site plan signify by saying I. I. Those who disapprove signify by saying no. Hearing no uh dispute, the chair rules that the site plan for use storage is hereby approved. And the next item on the agendum is a reszoning quest for Tennessee steel buildings which is tax map 69 parcel 13.03 and par of 13.04 22.30 acres 2271 Nubbing Ridge Road Dixon Tennessee A1 agriculture to C1 Rural Center District. That's this is of course the third county district. Uh now councelor, is this the right time for someone that represents the interest of Tennessee steel buildings to have a chance to address the commission? Mr. Chairman, if I may, I just want to give some brief background and I think it would be appropriate for the applicant or the applicant's representatives to address the

commission and then obviously the commission can get into any questions or deliberation that you want. Um, so this body is seeing this again. You voted uh in January on this resoning. Uh, it passed 82. After it left this body, it was realized that uh, we passed a new law last year requiring public notice letters to go out on any resoning. That was not done. We informed the applicant. They have complied. They have sent out notice letters to the adjoining parcels. They provided us an affidavit. So that's why you're seeing it. again, it did not make it up to the county commission because of uh that deficiency. Um so, briefly, um last year, uh the reason this came to you first in January, and now you're seeing it again, last year it was discovered the operation of this business on this property. This property is currently zoned A1, Agricultural Zoning District. Um the zoning office sent them a corrective action plan and I want you to be aware of what that plan is uh before you get into your questions tonight. It's a three-step plan. The first is to seek a reasonzoning to C1 uh and again that's the rural center district where there's some commercial activity that's allowed uh in this case we've talked before in that January meeting about light industrial uh which this would fall into that category. If this property is successfully reszoned, they would then have to seek a site plan for what they have on site. And then lastly, they would have to seek building permits for things that have been built in addition to anything else that may come down the road. So, it is a multi-step, multi-month process. This is just step one. This body is making a recommendation to the county commission. Ultimately, it's the county commission that will decide whether or not that this property gets reszoned to see one, but you're making a recommendation and they'll be looking to your recommendation. So, that is what's on uh for you tonight. And obviously, Mr.

Chairman, I'll turn it over uh to you if you want to hear from the applicant. I feel that it's very much in order for the applicant to address this body and by extension those of you who are here in the audience about why we should move forward on this matter. So, uh that's what I call for at this time is for the representative of Tennessee Commercial Electric LLC to address this. Mr. James, thank you, Mr. Chairman Burton. My name is Daryl James. I u was not involved with the resoning request that was came up in January after as the barristister said. Uh there were a couple of things that were left out of that one. So they asked us to actually pull that together. So I think all the documents that you've got are there. Um I I'll take any questions that you have. As um Mr. Mills said, uh you've got two readings at the county commission. Uh the first one is public hearing, I believe. Uh don't know when that would be. It would either be in the June meeting or the July depending on the 30-day window to advertise that. June 16th be I'm sorry. June 16th will be Well, did everyone hear that? I just think it's important. We all know the public hearing before the county commission, not this body, is the 16th of June. Okay. We we need to check on that. I was told today that the county commission meeting was actually going to be the following week on the 23rd. Now, we might want to check on that before we advertise according to the calendar could be subject to revision and

correction. Well, Mr. Mayor told me that. So, he's probably a good source and and I don't know, he said that somehow or another they always do that in June because of budget or something. So, but check on it before you believe me. And of course, uh, the the other thing that's interesting about this site, a lot of interesting things, but, um, you had some aerial photos that we submitted in the packet and a little brief summary in the very front, but this property was being used for similar kind of use in 2007, about 18 years ago. Um it was a sawmill. I believe Mr. Wade said that. But then um the site was cleared and a building built in 2010 to do some kind of wood fabrication. It was and I don't I don't know what that was. It was pallets and hardwood and things like that. So the site's actually been used for commercial use since about 2007. Um the current owners uh acquired it in about 2018 and they as has been said they've uh built some additional buildings out there to accommodate uh their fabrication uh operation. It um there's a lot said about uh traffic and things like that. Um, that is one of the items that was not included in the January meeting that we've done. We hired a traffic engineer that all they do is traffic studies and it all this in your packet. But when when they do the

traffic assessment, basically they look at the site, look at the buildings, what size they are, and then they come up with in algorithms of what could possibly be traffic wise on site. Their trip generation said 325 vehicles trips to a day could be accommodated today. And then of course they also look at level of service uh and that's always a level of service A, B, C or D. A being the best. Uh the level of service that they assessed is a level of service A. It's the best you can get. Uh we were just uh told by several people that you know they were concerned about trucks and semis and things like that. So, we went ahead and supplemented that report with u counting some vehicles, and we counted those over a two-eek period uh from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. And we didn't come up with anything close to 324. Um basically, uh the Novin Ridge Road was averaging about 150 vehicles a day. and it ranged from about 90 to 201. The average for entering or exiting the Tennessee steel building site was about 54 and that range was from 9 to 74 a day. And then we look specifically at the what I guess we call the multiaxle vehicles. Those would be it could be a tractor trailer type vehicle. It could just be a box truck, but it's something with three or more axles. And during

that during that time, uh there were 48 counted on Nubbing Ridge Road and 17 actually entered or exited the site. So those were the only trucks that were coming in out of the site. We and we've got all that data on camera if anybody wants to look at about that's 17 vehicles in a 12-h hour period. Mr. James, uh, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. I guess. Yes, sir. That's 17 multiaxle vehicles. Correct. Mr. James, let me ask you a question, Mr. James, if you don't mind. Uh, what was that? A weekday? Was that the weekend? When was that stud? It was it was all contiguous. it start and and all that data is in your report too, but it it included some weekends and it was just 14 days of of counting traffic. Did that traffic study come all the way uh down to Edgewood to 46. Uh well, the camera we had set up was right at uh Tennessee Steel Buildings. Now, the traffic assessment that you got, they looked at everything all the way to Yellow Creek Road. All right, let's see. Um, the other thing that we did do after looking at it, um, when this body, uh, approved the reszoning in January, we relooked at the site and we actually reduced the acreage that we were asking for reszoning that this body passed last time. and we reduced that acreage by about 7.06 acres. And that document is in your packet. Also, Mr. James, could I I'm sorry. Go ahead. Um, I was just curious, is there a geometric study on the, you know, the

roadway on Yellow Creek where the guard rail is continuously torn up? Uh, no. And, um, but I've looked at it. There's no study to it. Uh, I was actually out there one day uh at that site and I came out and the guardrail had been damaged and looking at it, it actually looked like it was damaged by maybe a pickup truck that had a trailer behind it. I'm sorry. It's true. So, that's what it looked like to me. Yes, sir. I've been doing some deep thinking about this. The property is has been under the current ownership since 2016 2017. Is that what you said? Uh I think it was 2018 and at that time it was not a steel fabrication company. It was a a wood fabric wood factory. Did anyone on the buyer's side look at what the current zoning was for that property and give any thought at all to the fact that business had been run for whatever reason on A1 that really needed commercial zoning, but yet, pardon me, there was a deal done to purchase the property And I'm assuming to assume the risk of at some point realizing that this particular property had dropped through the cracks somehow both on a buyer seller on a Dixon County on a

whole bunch of different cracks that this sort of fell through and Mr. Chase. Yes, sir. I tell you what happens. The use is classified as commercial and that confuses a lot of people. When you pull up the property view as far as property subjects go, it's listed as a commercial use. That's not the zoning and that confuses a lot of people. The zone is also commercial tax as a commercial use. But when they look at that, that confuses them. So a lot of them don't know that the actual zoning is A1 agriculture. We see that on a lot of them. Okay. And I and I can understand that, you know, there there seems to be a lot of confusion about this whole thing. My thought is, and I'll just keep this brief, that I also have some concerns about spot zoning and what precedent that does set. I would be as I've been thinking about this all week. I would much rather be looking at some kind of a variance of some kind because you guys obviously perform a great service and do good work and guarantee etc etc etc. But I am worried about future things. We do not need another gas property in our lives. You know that was sort of thing that kind of slipped through the cracks and it just worked out and some people weren't happy some people were. That's my thoughts. Understood. And you know, as Mr. Darnell said, we work for a lot of folks doing engineering work, and it's not the first time something like this has come up where somebody, you know, they look at the property, they buy it, they see it's taxed as commercial property and they make that assumption. Now, as far as a variance for the use, that's really a legal question. I don't Now, Mr. times this body cannot this body is not

competitive grant of variance. I can I can say that unequivocally. I'm not an attorney and I don't have extensive land use planning law background but I can say that and know that I'm right. Okay. Thank you. Mr. James, do you know what size the building was when they purchased this property? Well, I do. It may take me a minute to And is that building still standing? I'm sorry. Is that building still standing? Yes, it is still. Yeah, it was actually added to um and while you're looking, I'll just make the comment. You said it was a sawmill, then it was some some wood processing. You didn't really know what they were doing. Is that correct? Right. All All I know is what I was told. It was vol a company called Volunteer Veneers, right? And I understood that they made pallets and then made some kind of hardwood veneer, but I don't know what that is. Uh, as far as the size of the building, I would have to look here for a minute. While you're looking, I'll make this comment. Um, as obviously fits into A1 agriculture. Obviously, it does. Uh, yes, it is a business, but it does fit within the confines of agriculture business. Correct. I'm 75 by 100. Who said that? Mr. Chairman, commentary from the audience not permitted at this time. Yes. The audience is advised that even when you know the answer to the question, the time for public comment is over and this is discussion between uh the applicant, the commissioners and just the applicant and the commissioners and council. Mr. Mills, can you answer? So, I was going to answer your question. Yes, please. what I understand the history when this was a sawmill that is

a permitted use in the A1 zoning district as was wood fabrication when the use changed that's when if you want to call it a zoning violation occurred that was later discovered uh still a commercial use you just changed the type of material and it's not permitted in the A1 zoning district but the sawmill and wood fabrication was Thank you. All right. To answer your question about the building sizes, the one main building that you know the building that was there and it was added to today it's about 41,000 square ft. There's a building just um north of there that's another 26,000 square ft that is not connected. Mr. James got a question on anything. I talked to the fire marshal. Anything over 12,000 square ft has to be fire lines, fire sprinklers, and all that stuff. Has anybody reached out to them and to get that clarified? They didn't have to do it. Okay. Well, as uh I think the county attorney said, this is a three-step process. you know, one is to bring it into compliance with the zoning and by direction of the county. The next step is to actually do a site plan that of course should have been done years ago and that'll be done. After that, the buildings will all have to come into compliance with whatever the code is, but we have to take it a step at a time. I have something for you, Mr. James. Um, in the Birch Transportation, uh,

traffic study that we were given, um, it does say that there's critical consideration. Um, I guess with 355 ft looking east and that is generally the direction in which the majority of the traffic would would Okay. What page are you looking at? Uh three of five five right the sight distance when you're coming out right so what are your comments on that since you provided an additional graphic study as he said as they say in the report the site distance looking to the east was shorter than desirable 355 ft but given the low volumes of oncoming traffic relatively low approach speeds and little conflicting traffic turning left. This is not a significant concern and and it's based on the volume of what's on Nubbingbridge Road today. And are you able to comment as to why no building permits were ever applied for? Um I don't know. Okay. I you know I only started working on this in February and and so I don't know. Uh we do a lot of work in this area and a lot in all of Tennessee and it's not the first time I've seen that that you know folks go out and build buildings and in this particular area why nobody brought this up for 12 years I guess or from two well 2018 and now seven years why that was never an issue. I don't know the answer to that. Some of the paperwork I have wasn't

dated 2017, but it was dated well before the present day. So, there's been things at work here in the past. But I I want to ask one question of you and that's your client is aware that since his existing buildings because of the lack of the permit, they're not grandfathered to changes in codes. They're not going to be considered non-conforming. They're going to be considered non-compliant and have to they would have to modify to when all this process is finished, they're going to have to bring anything up to what the 2025 code is. That's correct. They're aware of that. That's what I understand. Yes. Well, that's good. I do have one other question for Mr. James. The newest building that apparently is still being constructed, um the white building that's considered office space. Do you know what setback they have used for that building? It's a 50-ft setback from the ride ofway and a portion of that building is within the setback and that would have to be dealt with in the site planning also. So, um, that building, is it completed already or is it still It looked like it was still under construction? Uh, I haven't been in the building for about a month and it wasn't quite completed a month ago. So, it I would say it's still under construction. And is it going to be strictly used for office space? Uh, it's an office building. Yes. I just uh I'm just concerned about with them not having a building permit and then it became before this body and it got attention. Has work been allowed to progress on that building even though it's been known that there's no permit? Well, that there wasn't a stop work order put on it that I know of from the county. Okay.

um state electrical. I mean, do you know if that was followed? Well, I know it would have had to gone through electrical inspection or they never would have gotten power to the building. U so we know that happened. Are there any further questions for Mr. James? If not, I'm gonna let him stand down and his testimony be over. And then I'm going to call for a motion to approve the reszoning request for Tennessee Steel Buildings for Tax Map 69, partial 13.03, and part of 13.04, 22.30 acres, located at 2271 Nubbing Ridge Road, Dixon, Tennessee, from A1 Agricultural to C1 Rural Center. Mr. KS, may I ask may I ask say one more thing, please, sir? Well, you can and then we're they're going to after after the motion and second, there's time for more discussion. Okay, go ahead, sir. So, does anyone move at this time for what I just outlined for the reasonzoning? If a commissioner moves for it, it'll it'll be that's a defeat. Well, Mr. Chairman, is it a possibility to have more discussion before a motion is not? No. After something's moved and seconded, then it's on the floor for discussion. Mr. Chairman, I'll remind everybody just because you moved a certain way, your votes not. No, you're not obligated. Open to now discussing this item. Uh, and I'll also add we need a motion recommending this resoning or a motion not recommending this res and a valid second to that motion. Well, again, the chair will say, is there a

motion in favor of the reszoning request from Tennessee Steel Buildings Incorporated, tax map 69, parcel 13.03, and part of 13.04, 22.30 30 acres 2271 Nubbed Ridge Road Dixon. Is there any commissioner who makes a motion in favor of this proposal? The chair having heard none. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to Is there a commissioner who wishes to make a motion recommending to the county commission the disapproval of this resoning? Is that a point of order, Jeff? That is your motion for disapproval. Yes. Okay. Mr. Jeff Chase has move have moved that we disapprove the reszoning request that I'm not going to go through the details again. We know what it is. Is there a second to this motion for disapproval? Second. Mr. Tommy Brown seconds the motion for disapproval. This motion is to make a negative recommendation to the county commission on this item. Those in favor of this motion, which means Mr. think there may have been more discussion. Is there is there more discussion about this negative motion to disapprove what we've just heard? I think that's a very good question. Counselor, does anyone have anything to say about Mr. Barry? Mr. CS, I will say something. All right. Please. Um, I I would like to point out this this gentleman that owns this business is a fine gentleman. I will say that stipulate that he's he and we've had testimony from from people um talking about the quality of his work and I agree with the quality of his work, his work ethic. Uh I feel like our county has failed him. Our county has failed us also as citizens of the county and

members of this board. I've Mr. Mr. Pierce, I believe, said, uh, really summed it up really well. How did we get here? I think that's the question we're all asking ourselves. Um, that's the question I would like to know is how we got to this point. Uh, this sets a precedence. Uh, and I believe the first time we heard that, we had another gentleman here u with a similar request who had to jump through all of the legal hoops. And then we had this before him as well. And I'm sure that gentleman was sitting back there thinking, why am I doing this? Why do I have to do this? So, I just wanted to point that out. Um, I would also like to recuse myself from voting. Understood. Uh, this gentleman is a customer of mine, sir. Okay. And and you you you understand, Mr. Barry, that a recusal in this interest is a automatic no. I understand. Comes if this comes to a vote. I understand. But this is a conflict of interest, sir. I totally understand. Totally respect it. Done it before myself. him if I may. Yes, council. Full recusal. He's not considered a member of the body. So, it's not a no vote. It's not a Okay. Okay. As a full recusal, then that's right. It's conflict of interest. Okay. Everyone understand that? For a mo for a motion to be approved, even a motion of disapproval, for that motion to be adopted, it takes a majority of the members of this body who are present and voting. Not just not, it's just not automatically seven. It's the majority of the people who are present in voting when a quarum is present. Uh let's see. I'm I'm trying to figure out how to word this properly myself. Uh and again, we all need to know what we're voting on. If you vote yes on this motion, you are voting not to repro to recommend that the county commission, they're going to go through their process anyway. This is not the end of it, but we're going to recommend that the county commission, the

recommendation of the county commission, planning commission to the county commission is going to be disapproval of this request to the county commission for resoning. Is everybody clear on that? If you if you if you say yes, you mean no. It's not the simplest thing in the world. And I just like to add another comment. Oh, certainly. Over here. So, um, yeah, I still don't know which direction sounds are coming from. you'll have to that um 22.3 acres. I Yes, I'm very concerned about signing a blank check for changing this to be commercial and not knowing what that would impact that would have to that area. It was just a comment, no question. Well, yeah, there there is precedent for doing this. This is the old This is the old conundrum of what do you get? Forgiveness and permission. I'm going to defend our staff here a little bit. You know, we've never had enough staff to go out and just patrol looking for things that are violation of zoning, looking for things that are violation of codes. When the public doesn't bring it to the attention of the people here and it's just going on, everybody thinks, well, it's just what's going on. Then it goes on. I think in the future we're going to be able to have a level of staffing to remedy that, but we can't go back and remedy stuff that happened 7 years ago. And I just want to keep that in mind. And uh I think because of the fact that it's I I don't want to be guessing what's the majority. So, uh I will say Mr. Hayes, would you do us the favor of reading the the role? And remember, if you vote yes, yes is to disapprove. If you vote no, you want to

keep it going with the item maybe approving it afterwards. But if you if a majority goes yes, the planning commission is going to recommend that this not go ahead, sir. Full recusal, sir. Affairs. Yes. Darren Green. Yes. Robert Walls. No. Brown. Yes. Jeff Chase. Yes. Randy Ramy. Yes. Amanda Barry. Yes. Patrick Reagan. No. Mr. Chairman. That's the mo the motion to re make a negative recommendation to the county commission on this reszoning request has just been enacted by you all. Is there anything further to come before the uh Dixon County Planning Commission at this time? If not, we will meet again here in regular session at this place at 700 p.m. on the second Thursday evening in in June. And with that, I would entertain a motion for move by Mr. Barry missed. You all have a fine evening.