Regional Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Check one, two. Check one, two. Courtroom seven. Testing one. Open that door. Testing one, two, three, four. For me in just a second. That was enough. Oh, it was

[laughter]

I already

No, I'm Y'all were lined up. What's that?

[laughter] He got introduced yesterday. Happy new year. [laughter]

[laughter]

It's a good boy.

[laughter] Not really. You ready? But I guess you are streaming it.

I need to What you think? [laughter]

[laughter]

I said it might make it fuzzy though. It's not going to be very good. Well, it is what it is. So, you know,

they were talking when it first started. So, that may have meant that it was, you know, it's harder to tune in. [laughter] You have them [clears throat] fix

[laughter]

I'm not sure. And it wasn't [laughter] [laughter] called the Washington County Regional Planning Commission January evening to order. I see that there is a war press. We will stand for the prayer. Mr. H believes in that. We will have a pleasure. Please let us bow our heads. Dear heavenly father, as we started here, I'm before you very humble, very thankful, thankful for the place that we live. Blessing that you provide us, Lord. Lord, we're thankful for this community, the people that show up tonight to show their concerns for this community. Help us as we move forward to consider everyone's point of view. And most of all, dear Lord, lead, guide, and direct us in the decisions that we make that they're what you want us to do and that they honor you, dear Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. [clears throat]

I thank you for this robust crowd tonight's interest and support this evening. Um the approval of agendas before us second.

Any objection? It is so ordered. Next will be disclosure of conflicts of interest and the chair has one which I will read. I am not financially interested nor do I have any personal beneficial interest either directly or indirectly in the resoning request for 1367 Old State Route 34 requested by BWXT ordinance Tennessee. However, I previously did work with Aererojet and Nuclear Fuel Services, which are BWXT companies, and that prior professional relationship may lead someone to infer that it affects my vote on a measure before the body today. Therefore, I am disclosing my prior work and my decision to abstain from voting today [clears throat] despite the fact that a vote would be based upon my independent and impartial analysis on the issue on its merits. My decision today, as it always is, is based on what I believe to be in the best interest of Washington County. The announcement is that the next meeting of the county commission will be on January 26, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. at the George P. James Justice Center. We have the minutes of the December 7 meeting before us.

Move for approval. Second.

Any discussion? All in favor significance carry. This time we have public comment uh concerning anything on the agenda excluding the few items that uh we'll be having a public hearing for which only leaves one item. So if anybody would like to make any uh comments on the one item which is a site plan request, please come forward and do so. Hearing none, we will go to the public hearing uh regarding the reszoning and text amendments. Uh want to uh everybody to remember that you will be given three minutes to address the board regarding the agenda item. Comment shall be limited to items on the agenda and for the two u uh public hearings. One is on a text amendment, one is on the BWXT reszoning. We ask that you please address the planning commission with your comments. Again, you'll be limited to three minutes so we can get everyone that wants to speak a chance to voice their opinion. The tone must be respectful and if it is not, you will be warned and if you if it persists, you will forfeit your ability to address the regional planning commission. Those are the uh rules for doing so. Uh we'll now uh suspend from our meeting and go into the public hearing for the BWXT uh ordinance reszoning request. That's

at 1367 Old State Route 34. It's uh reszoning partially of A1 uh and R1 low density and A3 agricultural to M2 which is a high impact industrial uh use. I have a list of people who wish to speak and I will call their name and uh if you will come and uh to the podium up here state your name and uh where you live and uh make your comments and then um we'll go on to the next one. The first person is Luther Miller. Luther milk.

Thank you, sir. My name is Luther Miller. I live at 1441 Old State Route 34. And when I say the plant is in my backyard, I'm not telling the story. This is the plant from my front yard. This is the plant from our back deck. We found out last month that there is nuclear material buried on the property. Uh we asked Representative Alexander about this coming up thing and she said it wouldn't be any worse than what it is right now. My question has been, how worse is it right now? Is it worse enough to cause you to have stage three kidney disease? Is it worse enough to cause you have to take six pills a day to keep your pancreas functioning? Is it worse enough to cause you to have thyroid problems to the point that you have to have two of your thyroid thyroids removed? Is it worse enough that it causes you to have constant diarrhea? These are all conditions that can be caused by radiation exposure. And gentlemen, as you can see, I am a Vietnam War veteran, one of the lucky ones that came out with being contaminated with Agent Orange. But from what I can see, I'm being contaminated in my own backyard because these are all conditions that both my wife and I suffer from and we can ask the doctor and we don't know. So I ask you sir, please, please think hard. Think hard before you tell these people, okay, bring this stuff in

here and manufacture it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. [laughter] Diana, right?

Diana, right? My name is Diana Opel Helena Wright and I am 7 years old. I have lived in Jonesboro, Tennessee my whole life. I live about one mile from BWXT on 158 Sand Valley Court. [clears throat]

We live I live on a small farm with my mom, my dad, and my little sister, Helen. We keep bees. We have chickens. We grow up a garden. Our neighbors feel like family. One of them made me a quilt before I was even born. Another lets my sister and me help take care of her horses and cats every morning. This is my home. I love it here. I really don't want to move. I play in the Nola Chucky River. I go backpacking on top of Juna Mountain in the Emerald Forest. My friend Leah and I found moss and built fairy houses there together. I love swimming in the cold creek at Rocky Fork State Park. Once I caught an Appalachin dusky salamander there all by myself. These places are where I am most happy. Thinking about this place being built one mile from my home makes me feel scared. I don't know what would happen to my home or where we would go. I don't want to leave my friends. I don't want to leave sea keeps for a school. I want to stay there until I'm old enough to be a teacher. I don't understand everything about uranium or money, but I do understand what it feels like to lose something that you love and that no amount of money can replace it. My parents teach me to tell the truth, to be kind to everyone, and to take care of the earth. You are the grown-ups. You are the ones who get to decide what happens to my home, to my neighbors, and the beautiful places I love. I can't

move the Nola Chucky and Ramy Creek with me. I can't move Buffalo Mountain in my school with me, but I can try to save them. I can't protect it by myself. I need you to help me. I need you to protect and help our town and our community. Please protect Mother Earth. Please protect our home. Thank you.

Thank you very much. The next person is William Beal. [clears throat] Good evening and God bless all here. I'll try this brief. You're probably wondering why somebody with an English is uh my wife and I we moved.

Yeah, certainly. My wife and I, we moved here about uh six years ago now. Um, we live on McIntyre Road. My wife and I have ancestors that moved to Jones in the 1780s. I've got ancestors that were buried here. Jonesbury means a lot to me into my life. Um, I'm here. The reason I'm dressed like this, I know you're bumping up crazy, but it's to honor our colonial history and inspire you, the commissioners, to champion the same courage and conviction that defined our ancestors fight for freedom 250 years ago this year. Um, we [clears throat] fought for the freedom to live as we wanted to live in peace and security against one of the greatest palace in the n world at that time. My wife's fifth greatgrandfather, Judge Samuel Wood, moved here from Leicster, England, arriving here in 1781. He was made a justice of the peace in 1796 in Jonesboro by Governor John Sia. He was a religious man, pious man. He attended Cherokee Baptist Church. So you see this is our home and we are very concerned by what we've learned that may take place here Washington County. Um, I think it's our turn now to stand against the exploitation and prioritize people over pri over over profits. I urge the commissioners to remember their oath to discharge the duties of their office honorably and impartially for the public good for your neighbors here. Please put our community's well-being first and safeguard our land by denying the end to resoning and secure our rights to life,

liberty, and pursuit of happiness. I thank you for your time, [laughter] Gabriel Wilson. Honorable commissioners, I'm from the state of Franklin. My name is Gabriel Wilson and I live at 249 Clyde Miller Drive in Telford. I say I'm from the state of Franklin because I know I sound like I'm not from here, but I'm kin to Charles Robertson who was a loyalist to John Spir and to Major Jonathan Typton. Not to be confused by John Tipton, the Carolina guy, but Major Jonathan Typton, who fought in the battle of Kings Mountain and stayed very loyal to John Seir throughout the state of Franklin history. I love it here. It's where my great-grandparents are from. And uh I love it here. I have 2200 ft of linear property line with PWXT's initial zoning request with the property they still hold. They've obviously walked that back a little bit. And [clears throat] it got my attention because when I bought my property, I looked at the comprehensive plan. I looked at the zone, the land use, you know, and transportation uh rules and I saw I'm an R3 lot, which is interesting because I live on 27 acres, but I'm an R3 lot, which means I can build homes for my kids. And uh I looked across and realized, okay, BWFC was then Aaron Jet is half mile as the crow flies. Uh but they own the lot behind me, but that's A1. A1 is designated not to become an M2 lot. It's designated to have land use compatibility. Uh it it our zoning comprehensive plan says that it can uh be used for um residential for our growing population, but says nothing about industrial or commercial uh going

on to that kind of lot. So when I look across there, I'm comfortable investing in my land and my farm knowing that the county is not going to put an industrial island there. But that's exactly what's happening. You have to ask yourself if this was not Aerot and this was not EWXP. Let's say this was Enron and Enron approached Washington County and said we want to put an oil refinery right in the middle of Washington County and this is the best this is the spot we want. You would you would know that that's an incompatible land use. You know it's a it's not the best place to put an industrial park. The only reason this is even on the table is because of the acquisition of the land from Aerojet and in BWXT's hands. And frankly, you know, that was grandfathered in really or put there before there was zoning in the first place. So that's why we're concerned. Uh if BWXT decides after they give us a site map and they do an environmental impact study and all that that they don't want to be here, they could take that into lot and sell it to Enron and we could have an oil refinary right behind us. We'd have no say in that matter at all. So, right now, we're trying to zone first and ask questions later, and that doesn't seem wise. I put it on you guys to make a wise decision. I trust you to do the right thing, but I believe that reszoning this at this time is not wise. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh Aaron not.

Hey, my name is Aaron not. Um you guys have received my reports that I've sent you already and I apologize for the speed, but there's a lot to get through. Uh this resonant categorically violates the Washington County comprehensive plan of proving it would set a dangerous precedent for industrial development countywide. comprehensive plan on uh states on page 22 that industrial development will continue to be limited to the areas of the county where public sewer is available through the municipalities of Johnson City and Jonesboro uh will be limited to is mandatory language. It is not suggestion. Public sewer available means that public sewer is already available and there is no public sewer at this site uh which the staff has noted. analysis should end right there because industrial development without public sewer is categorically prohibited. Period. Um I want to address something beyond the legal requirements the precedent that is this that this decision would set in a similar and uh in intensive industrial saying oil refinery given to the body for resoning at the same location would approval be recommended as consistent with the comprehensive plan. I think not. This zoning decision must be applied uniformally and not selectively. Approving this resoning would materially weaken the county's land use standards. Um once you grant an exception for one applicant in apparent conflict with the comprehensive plan, you establish a record that similar applicants can rely upon. Future denials become hard to justify and the county risks undermining its own planning authority. This is [snorts] not a policy preference. It is a structural concern that zoning decisions that from the adopted plan creates an expectation of equal treatment and exposes the county to claims of arbitrary and inconsistent decision-m. Um there's more that goes as well within the comprehensive plan. It says growth at any cost is explicitly not celebrated yet this is being ignored. Utility

capacity must be a consideration as criteria for industrial use. This is not being addressed. Environmental constraints must be respected. The site is in a FEMA flood pit. A1 and R1. According to the zoning resolution, districts are designed to protect farmland and single family homes from industrial encroachment. The resolution itself acknowledges M2 is detrimental to surrounding areas. Over 5,000 residents have signed an opposition petition. This is not that is the community saying that the planning documents mean something to us. must be tempered by the willingness to participate. And I believe that the 5,000 people on this petition make that crystal clear of how we to participate. Denial is not becoming not because of fear or politics, but because the law requires it. This decision that you make today sets the standard for how all industrial zoning will be evaluated countywise. As a property owner within one mile of the proposal zone, this will cause irreparable harm and damage to me and my family through financial um uh not don't sell my property and being scared of our health. I strongly urge you to deny the study request. Thank you. Next person is Ron Dailyy. Good evening, commission. So, I'm Rod Bailey. I am an employee with BWXT, also president of Tennessee operations here for BXT, responsible for the site, and want to

speak on behalf of the recommendation to move forward with this res. Um, I'm also a 24 year resident of Jonesboro. Headtown Road is where I have lived. Property that I continue to have here. Um, and have appreciated working and living in this area better part of my life. Uh, having moved here when I was two years old. Uh, and appreciate the the work that you guys do. So what I want to speak to is our commitment to continue to operate a site that has been operating in this area for over 50 years. 50 years on land that has been owned since 1980. So when we speak of change, there is change. There's always change. Um what we are doing that is not changing is continuing to operate in a safe, regulatory, compliant manner because that's what we do. The reason that we do it is for all of us and quite frankly in defense of this very meeting for our ability to speak our opinion regardless of who we are to defend the rights for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Because to have those things, you have to be able to defend the very property that you own. And that's part of the overall mission for the United States. And that's part of what we're doing here. So I put that before you that as American citizens, we have rights. We also have responsibilities to ensure that we defend the rights for all and that's what we're here to do. So, thank you for your time and I do speak in favor of moving forward with this recommendation.

Thank you, sir. One to John Hangman. [clears throat]

[clears throat]

Okay. Good evening. Um, I am the agent listed on this resoning application and I do appreciate the opportunity to address the planning committee today commission and answer any questions that you all have for us. Um, I wanted to begin by expressing uh appreciation and gratitude to our neighbors who attended our public information session that was hosted by PWT back on December 11th. That opportunity uh for public engagement uh was invaluable to us and it gave [clears throat] us opportunity to talk to a number of our neighbors in a one-on-one environment and and we we got a lot of good feedback. Uh BD is currently in the process of developing um a project information page uh that will be on our website. That will be a venue to keep our public and keep the community uh informed of the status of the project as we migrate from the zoning through construction activities through permitting and licensing uh actions all well governed by the state of Tennessee. Um, at BWD, we do understand the importance of our community trust and transparency. Um, we want our neighbors to feel safe uh and secure about our company and this project. Um, this community is our home, too, just like Ron said. Um, and again, we've been proudly invested in this community for over 40 years. Uh, he mentioned that we've been at the sites since 1969. um uh our employees live here, raise their families here, uh share our same hopes, aspirations in our community. Um in light of the feedback that we received um and we uh we as good faith in pairing down, we did resubmit our

application for this resing and paired it down from 128 acres to 55 acres. uh that 55 acres is uh is will meet all of our operational needs and allows us to put all the infrastructure in uh to be able to meet the the needs for this project. It also establishes a natural buffer between our industrial area and uh we will continue to listen to our neighbors and the communities we move through this project and thank you once again for allowing us to address the Thank you sir.

I have Austin Paxton Thanks for thank you for letting me come for you today. I would just like to uh read a passage from scripture from Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 18. You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God has given you according to your tribes. and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice. You shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for blind blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice and only justice you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God has given you. And I'm not against u depleted uranium processing because it's made some of the most advanced weaponry that we have for United States and I think it's pretty awesome. When I researched it, I didn't even know about it. Um but I just think it shouldn't be being processed in our backyard. And uh my plea is that the zoning remains as is and no farther contamination is added to the air or the ground near where we live, work and play. And I to close with Proverbs 30 1 chapter 31 verse 9. Open your mouth and judge righteously and defend the rights of the afflicted and the needy. Thank you for hearing me today. Thank you. Uh Jeff Misaros, please.

[laughter] [laughter] Well, uh, again, I'm Jeff Msares. Uh, I'm also an employee of BXT. I've been employed with BDXT for, uh, greater than 20 years. Um, I also am a resident of Jones Row. Not as long as Ron and John, uh, but but I'm a resident. Um, kind of want to echo Ron's response and just express our commitment to uh, environmental protection, safety of the employees, safety of the environment, safety of the community. So, thank you for your time. Thanks.

Thank you. I have Tom McD. I'm Tom Mcnes. I live on Alison Drive, which is just the other side of the woods behind the Justice Center here. And uh I appreciate the comments already made that I think they make a powerful statement. Um going up going over the documents related to this process, uh I was alarmed to find that the projective project would be authorized to release uh up to 250 pounds of uranium to the air annually. So say that 99.999% of that released uranium lands somewhere safe somewhere benign. It doesn't do any damage. That leaves 31 grams of uranium landing somewhere where it's going to cause terrible problems. And uh my home right behind the justice center here is just a few miles uh from from the site that we're discussing. And uh that's really close to home much less for those people who live right next to the site. Uh, I think that um I just would like to express in the strongest terms my opposition to going ahead with this project and I think we

be well served to leave this land as it's currently zoned. Uh, one more thing I'd like to add is I have for the record this paper uh just completed yesterday by a nuclear engineer and friend of our community, Paul Moley. And uh I'd like to submit for the record if I could do that. Give it to Charles. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Del Roso. I think that's what it is. I'm Mike Deo. I live on Lorenna Lane in Jonesboro and um 5,500 people have signed to protect Jonesboro petition because the site that PWXT is proposing is really going to be a chemical facility and uh which is now on a cultural land. is a location surrounded by thousands of residents, high schools, uh, elementary schools within a two-mile radiance and, uh, it sits directly over in Nova, Chucky. There's other water, the water shed, it's in a flood zone. Uh these are things that you know we pointed out and that seem to be you know quite uh quite the wrong site for this kind of work which as I say depleted uranium weapons for America's defense it's wonderful this is just the wrong site for that and the aerial dispersion the modeling shows that emissions and any accidental release of hazardous airborne chemicals with flow go right into Jonesboro and Johnson City. The industrial activity will impact our water supply, the air quality, and the community's health. And it's likely to have a chilling effect on future investment. And you know, BWXT, I know that the employees, they live here. They they say they love the area. I'm sure they do, but as I say, the site is

just not compatible with the truck and the traffic. T DOT needs to do a traffic study under the NEPA laws. And these are the things that we want to bring to your attention because the rezone seems to be going too fast. there's a lot of material that needs to be um you know studied and uh I've been talking with a lot of different um well conservancy and different groups that have fought these kind of developments in different parts of Tennessee and they all say you know we have 5,500 people that signed a petition and usually the zoning board listens to the community in these in these matters. So I hope you do. Thank you. [laughter] Next person is I believe it's Robbie Lo. That's nice.

Okay.

So, let me start out with the scripture. Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray with me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me and when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. I'm asking that you guys seek your hearts today because these are families that live in the area with children, churches, and I jumped on board as soon as I found out about this. So, uh, I wrote a little, uh, note to you guys. Good afternoon, you good afternoon, your honor and fellow patriots. My name is Debbie Lo, and I am here to share how much I appreciate this state. I came to visit my daughter and grand in September of 2021 and I fell in love with Tennessee. Isn't that amazing? My kiddos found a 47 12 acre farm in 2022 and asked me if I wanted to put my house on it. I didn't waste a minute. I said yes. sold my house, came to Tennessee, and I'm planning on living the rest of my life here. I'm 73 years old. So, we are now farmers and actively involved with our church and Tennessee stands and I'm grateful that I can help in this situation. Louise, Suzanne, my buddy, and I thenworked with Gabriel and his group to work on the V BXT uranium plant petition. I am grateful that the mayor

took a stand to ensure safety for our families and I hope that you can establish a safe environment for us all because the BWXT is not a safe environment. Thank you. Thank you. And I apologize for misreading your name for Roger Broadwater.

Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Roger Broadwater. I live at 369 Black Creek Road in Limestone. You know, I had a whole speech prepared, but most of the people here pretty much covered, you know, the basis of everything. So, uh, instead, I'm going to remind you of an oath that you took, article 10, section two that the Tennessee Constitution requires every representative to swore an oath that [clears throat] they will not vote for anything that is interest. And I ask you, is 250 pounds of radioactive dust in our air interest to the people? Is contaminating the water table to the people? You commissioners are the lifeline of defense these people have. And I ask you to uphold the oath you took. I imagine everyone in this room that is watching or will be watching will be watching how the commissioner votes today. and imagine that they're going to remember this when it comes re-election time. Our children don't deserve a bad future. And you are this the beginning or the end of their future. It's your choice. Thank you.

Thank you. Um David, is it Crook? or cook. [laughter]

I'm David Crook. I live at 147 Britain Lane. My farm kind of span right straddled on the border between Limestone and Telford. Uh, we draw all of our water from Little Limestone Creek. I'm going to split this into two parts. I kind of have two main jobs. During the day, I manage an engineering team. It's an engineering operations team. We do disaster response for engineering systems. I can assure you, it's not if it's going to fail, it's a matter of when it's going to fail. I've been doing engineering for over 15 years for industrial systems. I've seen all sorts of stuff break, many of which I'm not allowed to talk about. So, you know, we can have all the safety protocols that we want. And I've had worked with systems where they say 99.999% guaranteed up time three months ago or so. Then y'all can swipe over a credit card. That was our fault. So, that system was supposed to stay online. Something bad happened. It was unexpected. It was an engineering flaw. EWT means all the best that they want, right? They're going to put all the engineering power. They've got 100 PhDs. They got all the nuclear scientists. Again, it's not if it's going to fail, it's when it's going to fail. And it's going to be an unexpected failure that we don't know about. Secondly, I own a blueberry farm and draw our water from there. We're just going to go. Like, I've got over a million dollars invested in this today. I'm planning on putting another million into it. I have 5,000 bushes that have been growing out for three years in the state of Kentucky that I'm planning on trucking down here and planting my 32 acre field. [clears throat] This passes I'm loading those up into a semi-truck and going somewhere else. Period. I'm not I'm not fooling around, right? Like there's too much at risk. It takes me seven years to

grow these bushes to where I can make back any of that money that I put in. Not to mention my two children, my wife, dogs, etc. So when somebody said, "Hey, likely there's going to be investment leaving the area." I will be one of the first to go. I'll be taking at least five of the jobs, five manager, the farm manager job, and I'll be taking my 2 million with me. Thank you. Next person is Amy Pew. Good evening. My name is Amy Pew and I live here in Telford, Tennessee. I'm a resident of Washington County and while I am not originally from this county, I choose to live here and I stand with the residents who are directly affected by the proposed DWXT uranium facility. I have professional experience relevant to this matter. I've previously worked on the safe drinking water project for the EPA where my work was grounded in federal public health standards designed to prevent contamination before it occurs, not after harm has been done. I have also performed nuclear related work for the Department of War at the Pentagon where I understand strict safety, contaminate and risk management requirements. Public health standards prioritize prevention and the protection of vulnerable populations, including children. The proposed uranium processing facility operated by BWX

Technologies presents risks that extend beyond a single site. School facilities fall within the affected area and surrounding counties share interconnected water and environmental systems. These impacts do not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Regulatory duty requires decision makers to evaluate cumulative risk, long-term exposure, and irreversible harm, not merely technical compliance. Uranium processing introduces the potential for lasting contamination of air, soil, and water. Once contamination occurs, remediation is costly, uncertain, and frequently borne by the public. [clears throat] Based on established public health standards and regulatory responsibility, I believe the proposed facility is not appropriate for Washington County or the surrounding region, and approval would be inconsistent with the duty that you have to protect public health and future generations. We can't vote the good old boy network. In closing, this case is not about abstract compliance or hypothetical safeguards. It is about real people, real children, and real communities who will bear the consequences of this decision long after today's proceedings are over. Regulatory authority carries not only power, but responsibility. The responsibility to prevent harm, not to explain it after the fact. When decisions involve uranium processing near your schools, shared water systems, and interconnected counties, the standard must be higher than compliance. It must reflect a duty to protect public health, to wait irreversible risk, and air on the side of prevention. Once contamination occurs, there is no undoing it, only mitigation, cost, and regret. The question before this committee is not whether a facility can be permitted, but whether it should be permitted. approval would place long-term risk in families of future

generations who had no voice in this decision. Public trust depends on choosing protection over expediency. And that is your responsibility for you today. You must vote for the 5,500 people plus who have signed that petition. It's your responsibility. [laughter] Our next speaker is Carolyn Vance. My name is Carol Vance and I would like the reports that you all give WJL to take it to my brother which is a professor at ETSU. There's many professors there that's against this. So I've asked them to do a study on what you all proposing. I'm not against you guys. I'm for us being safe though. I don't feel safe. If this goes through, I'm taking a bunch of people to Arkansas for landing there. So, I don't know what else to pay. But the students are signing these petitions like crazy. They don't want it in their

backyards either that it come here and some of them are foreign students. So, I asked you to reconsider this. Leave it as it stands and move it somewhere else someplace 150 miles away from public. My first cousin has breast cancer. I've got bunny cancer. Her son is on hospice dying right now as we speak. So it speaks to itself. What more can we say? We love people. And you know it's your responsibility to keep us safe. And you say this safe. Well, I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe at all. And if I I live on Mill Street, by the way, beside the diner and the people beside the diner have signed the petition. They don't want to be there. and a lot of the patriots are that sign this petition because they live and tell we we have friends we go to church and communicate and you know we're a family so I wish you all to consider what you're doing and my brothers and professor there they want the papers that you all wrote out for WJHL so they can do a thorough study of this. So, I ask you please reconsider this and hand me some paper so I can take it to my brother. He's a He was a professor there. He's a doctor. He's an MD. I'm a veteran. I'm an airborne medic.

Was a airborne medic. So, I I I've seen what it does. I've seen firsthand. I picked up bodies and stuff. It's not pretty. And yeah, I have PTSD from it. So, I'm getting about two or three hours of sleep because I want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for your time and God bless. Teresa Wilson. Honorable source, thank you for your dedication to Jonesboro, to the people here. Thank you for caring what you do. You are in a very difficult position. As you can see, we're very united. I'm so proud of you guys. This is amazing. And I want you to know, we're praying for you. This is a Christian community that loves God.

[clears throat]

We're upholding you in prayer because we're coming against and you're coming against whom I call the big boys, the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Energy Department, and then what we're facing with just our local plants, Babcock, Will Cox, Black Rockck, they're all involved underneath the surface in many of these decisions that you face. And you're being pressured by people we don't even know. But you know, you're being pressured by voices and money. I've worked quite a few nuclear power plants and my husband was all over the world working nuclear power plants for Babcock and Wilcox. He's in Afghanistan and I rock working for Black Rockck. They promise many things in these nuclear power plants and she knows what I'm talking about. They talk big and they promise no accidents. That they've got everything in control. But look at Hanford. That is a nightmare. My husband and I both were there. It's unbelievable. It would take hours to describe to you everything that goes on there and what they can't even do about it. The damage is irreversible. It's astounding. It's terrifying. And then look at Fukushima, an earthquake. And we know we're not free even in Tennessee from earthquakes that can happen here. that even with the best supervisors of this plant, they can't prevent the damage and what would happen to our water systems and our farmlands and our people. Fukushima has so corrupted the western part of the beaches in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. You can I challenge you to get a geer counter. Of course, they don't like you to do that, but get yourself a geer counter and go along the shores. would be shocked between the

uranium and the plutonium and the gamma and etc etc etc that is pouring into our lands through these type of situations and I'm for nuclear power. I mean I worked there for years. I'm for nuclear power but I'm not for the manipulation and the undercover and the things that are not really shared. In other words, the lies. So gentlemen, you're in a hard and difficult position. Thank you. I was going to share many other things but it's already been covered. I just want to thank you and once again repeat women repeat we're praying for you. We're praying for you. Is it Garmia? Garcia Garcia.

[laughter] [clears throat]

Hello, my name's Herman Garcia. I live in Johnson City, but I do business and I have a lot of friends here in uh Jonesboro, Irwin, Unicoy, this entire area. Uh I am concerned because what uh I see happening here is deja vu all over again. I used to live in Houston. I lived a mile away from the Brio site which if you look up the bio site, it is the worst super fund that ever happened in the United States. Brio, much like what this company is saying is promised the city of Houston that everything that they were going to do was going to be contained. there was going to be no environmental damage that there was going to be no leakage even though that place just like here was on a flood plane they promised the world to the city of Houston. So the city of Houston built an entire community and a school next to the bio site. Within a few years after this community was built, people started coming down with sickness, cancers. Teachers at the elementary school miscarriaged. And then when people realized that their health was more important than living in that area, they got up and left. people left their community and when the city of Houston realized that nobody was living in that area, they fenced it up and then they finally took action against bri. If there was a contamination here, which like somebody just mentioned a little while ago, it's not a matter of if, but when. How many people do you think are not going to get up and leave? How many people do you think will not abandon their properties, their businesses? How much tax revenue are you going to lose simply because people are more concerned

about their health rather than living in an area that is going to endanger the lives and the lives of their children. We need to consider that. I have way too many friends that I have made over these last years since I moved from here to from Houston. I don't want to see any of my friends come down with sicknesses. I don't want to lose the businesses that I've made, all these relationships that I've made in this area. It's important for me to stay here and it's important for me to continue making friends in this area. So, I please I I don't want to see deja vu all happen all over again. And if you want to look into Brioite, like I said, that was the worst super fund ever created in the United States. And it's uh it was right there off of Blackhawk and that community in Houston. Uh I used to live like I said almost a mile away from there. I don't want to live I live fairly close to where this is going to happen. I don't want to have again another deja vu incident again. Protect your community. I beg you. Thank you. David Meyer, gentlemen and ladies, thank you for your service. Thank you for being here today and and listening to our um letting us voice our opinions about this through forbearance. I'm just going to unfortunately just read the state. Miss Angie Clark recommended approval of the BWXT application in a document filed on December 30th. As part of her rationale, she asserted that Old State Route 34 is an arterial road, something required for citing heavy industry in an M2 industrial park under Washington County standards and consistent with state and federal practice. However, Old State Route 34 is not designated as an arterial road by T DOT, nor does it meet

the functional criteria established in Tennessee or federal code. There are four primary functional roadway classifications. Freeways and interstates, arterials, collectors, and local roads. An arterial road by definition is a limited access roadway with controlled entry points and minimal cross traffic. Engineered to handle high traffic volumes, including oversized heavy industrial vehicles while preventing congestion and reducing safety hazards on smaller roads. Arterials have wider lanes, stronger pavement, and features such as turn lanes at managed intersections. Critically, they do not have private driveways, local road intersections, or routine local delivery traffic. Yet, Old State 34, where BWXP is located, has all of these things along its entire length past Aerojet and proposed uh BWXT plan. The segment [snorts] from BWXT to 11E, which is presumably where all these trucks are going to have to drive with their materials, etc., is approximately 5.3 miles. The first 1.3 mile stretch of that route is from Arojet, not quite but almost to David Crockett High School, 1.3 miles. That road is currently uh classified by T dot as a minor rural arterial. So yes, it's an arterial. It's also the lowest classification of arterial. And like I said a moment ago, it doesn't meet any of those requirements for an arterial road. From that point forward from David Rocket High School into Jonesboro uh is another approximately 2.7 miles and that section is is uh T dot classified as a collateral rural road which is in no way arterial being the requirement for something in M2 zone. So that's approximately 5.3 miles total from Aerojet to the very first junction with 11. None of which is really

classified um for this type of activity. So that's the T dot classification of the existing roads for there [clears throat] Jones. In addition to that, Miss Charles report also confirmed that there is no public sewer at the proposed plant site. At present, all the waste water appears to be trucked off site from whatever storage or septic system is currently in use there. Once the facility is operating at full capacity, this alone ensures truck traffic will far exceed BWXT's estimates. Given this information, the proposed location for BWXT fails every tense of safety, stability, and [clears throat] common sense. No rational planner would site hazardous industry at this location based on the roadway limitations, infrastructure deficiencies, numerous concerns already identified. Thank you very much for your Joe Royston. [clears throat]

[snorts] [clears throat] Hi, my name is Mary Williamson. Husband and I and family live in Washington County. Um, I looked over as I asked for Joe. Oh, sorry. Williamson. Yeah, you're the last one, Mary. Okay. You're the last person. [laughter]

Greetings. My name's Joe Roston. I'm at 125 East Roadstone, Tennessee. And I apologize. I don't know what's been said. I don't know the procedure because I'm slitting down the hallway. You got two corps full of peas. So just so you know that uh a year ago we went through hell here. Chuck, you guys know it and I know you guys worked hard on it. I worked hard on it. A lot of people worked hard on it. And that's what bugs me is why are we going to turn around and put our watershed [clears throat] in jeopardy? I just don't understand that. But anyway, what I'm here for, I promised Buddy Gabriel, I promised my wife, and I promised the sheriff I'd be on my best behavior. [laughter and clears throat] Damn, although I can do more pull-ups than him, but we'll let that go. [laughter] Anyway, we have 550, I'm sorry, 5,560 people that have signed the petition to this That's a lot of people in Washington County and I think supposed to represent us, not some corporation. So, God bless you. Peter Canada.

[clears throat] [laughter]

Good evening everybody. Can you hear me? All right, that's good. I moved down here from Long Island, New York. 17 years ago. Can you tell? [laughter] And I was told this was God's country.

And I found out it was. But then there's a problem. I came down here retired. but actually went to work [clears throat] installing smoke alarms and I was working down in Irwin. I went into a house there and there was a gentleman. He had a layout map of Irwin with push pins in it. And I asked him, "What's these pins in this map for?" And he told me, "I'm an engineer. I'm going before congressional board against the nuclear plant that's here. These push pins represent people with cancer. And I said, "Oh boy, that's not good." But now here we are today. I live I live up on Sand Valley Road, 546 Sand Valley Road. I came down here and had a house built and I thought that that's this is my baby. This is going to be my retirement home. It's a beautiful home. Looks out into the mountains. And not too far away is this piece of land that somebody wants to put something on that's not so good. And that's not going to happen if I'm

living here. I'm going to try my best to stop it happening because I got a wife at home with respiratory problems. [clears throat] She has trouble breathing and I don't need any more problems with her or me. And I can assure you that about 90% of this room feels the same way. And I [laughter] this thing I ever heard that they want to put that thing down there. It's going to affect home value, which just went up in taxes for everybody. And this crap is going to bring them back down.

Sorry, but I have So, uh, I just want to say I want I want you guys to think real hard what you're going to do here. It's not good. Not good at all. Thank you,

William Hart. Good evening. My name is William Hart. I live at 147 Berry Creek Ree Road, which is 210 of a mile from the entrance of the X EWXT. I'm a retired professor from the bios system engineering soil science department, University Tennessee. I'm also a third generation farmer and my farm is located adjacent to the backside of BWXT. I remember when this facility was first built and I watched it grow over time from nuclear fuels, air jet and now EWXT. This is a classic example. But when you give an inch to take a mile, I oppose this reasoning during the pure definition of M2 high impact use district which is as follows. M2 high impact use district Washington County. It is the intent of this district to establish areas which unless closely regulated might cause detrimental effect upon and be injurous to surrounding areas. This district created therefore to allow for heavy type industry and uses noise odor dust and other object objectable conditions. Personally, I have the environmental concerns for this. Bacon Branch Creek flows through my property and shortly after bleeds my property joins up with Little Limestone Creek and together it flows into the BWXT property which is a flood zone. I have concerns of increased traffic and

maintaining integrity of our community. If you can, if this commission proves this, this commission cares more for creation than the people in the community and their property. I assure you that if this facility was in your backyard, I know how you can zone how you can vote for the zone. I hope you do the same for this community. The next one is Gerald Lipsky. [clears throat] get that. I also have something I would like to put in the record. Few extras if anybody wants one. I certainly have a lot more information to put out than I'm going to be able to in three minutes, but I'll just start out with a couple things. I'm not nor have I ever been a BWXT employee. I am a retired nuclear submarine officer and a retired DOE nuclear engineer who is the chief technical authority at the Savannah River site with 12 nuclear facilities and supporting infrastructure. I have no financial interest in this outcome. I just happen to have retired here to Jonesboro. Boy, was I surprised to see a BWXT sign pop up down there. I I can see from the input on the social

media that there's a lot of passion on this issue and that's a good thing. When we all stop caring, doomed. Unfortunately, I'm seeing a lot of misinformation and excessive hyperbole, often fed by the cobbling together of select facts that fit the narrative and often lacking in measurable risk data or facts that do not fit the narrative. As a matter of fact, I found out today that the neighbors of BWXT have banned me from their site because I guess they don't apparently they don't like my contrary reports. I tried to be very courteous about it. However, I'll be the first to admit that the nuclear industry along with along with pretty much pretty much every other chemical industry in this country has a pretty poor record of worker environmental safety, creating large super fun sites, very expensive to clean up, especially the cold war nuclear sites. However, around 1989 to 1992, a lot of things began [clears throat] to change. Uh, and the regulatory and enforcement environment also began to change. Actually, I was brought into the Department of Energy from the Navy to help with some of this change in culture at these Department of Energy sites. That said, yes, those cleanups will take forever and there's lots of reasons for that. Uh, in this record is my email address and Gabriel knows how to get a hold of me and he's been very courteous to me despite my contrary opinion. So [snorts] if anybody wants to sit down and discuss facts with references with reports, not hyperbole, not selective cherrypick stuff, not people who hide behind a PhD or anything like that. I'd be happy to invest some of my personal time with you

so you could I just get cut off. Okay. And and help you because there's a lot of good arguments for not doing this. I'm hearing, you know, on the traffic and this and that. I've also talked to BWXT at their public meeting. They actually have very good answers for a lot of these things. I think it would probably be a worthwhile endeavor for yet another meeting probably with some prepared questions and get give them to BWST. I think you can condense what you want to ask to about 10 to 20 questions and let's get these out on the table with references, with reports, with backup because it's not all doom and gloom. You'll have to wrap up, sir.

Yes, sir. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Depleted uranium is not the issue. It's the chemicals that are the issue and there are plans. Anyway, I think this can be done safely, not necessary that it will be done safely. Thank you for your time and thank you everybody and I hope that you get an outcome that you can live with. Yeah. It's Jack and I'm not sure how the last name is it Ready? Ready.

Hello, my name is Jacqueline Reed and I've lived around this area my entire life. My parents have lived here, my grandparents and my greatgrandparents as well. I have children and grandchildren that live in this area. So, I have a big stake in what goes on in my community. Now my family and friends like most people in Washington County and surrounded community communities are not wealthy people. So the proposition of these jobs that are coming in with this at first sounds uh good that we're getting jobs and I know we like to get jobs but for the prospect of about 200 jobs is not worth the rest of the people what the price that we'll pay for the rest of the communities that live here. And as a gentleman had said, it's not if, it's when it's going to happen. So, I want to talk about the reason that we don't trust that everything's going to be safe and secure because we have seen time after time about disasters that have happened, accidents that have happened. People make mistakes and they do things and they cause a lot of accidents, a lot of issues and also it the history around this area. That plant has been there since the early

80s. So time. It's been there for a while. And I recall whenever the employees went on strike for health and safety reasons, they were being overexposed to radiation. They weren't striking because of pay again. They were striking because of health and safety issues. And those are issues. Those are things that we see time and time again. And of course, we also had the Bumpus Cove disaster where a bunch of chemicals were dumped into Bumpus Cove and then that leaked out into the creek and eventually in the river, you know, the runoff of these toxins that get into our watershed and then get into our river. You know, that's the price that we'll have to pay if we don't really look at this and see who who are benefiting from having this, you [clears throat] know, depleted uranium. Who are benefit? Well, about 200 people jobs. Well, what would it do to the rest of us if accident happens? if leaks get out, things like this happen. And again, things do happen, accidents happen. So, it's just a matter of time. And I want to wrap up with saying, please consider what we're doing to our community. and thank you for your time. Rebecca Keeler,

are we to the uh annex room? Okay, I'll ask I'm going to give three names and I'd like them to come from the other courtroom to come in here to address. So, first of all, Rebecca Keeler, Andrew Conahham, and Otto Keel. If those three can come. Okay. Thank you for the little sprint down the hall. [laughter] Good evening. My name is Rebecca Keeler and I live [clears throat] um about six and a half miles away from this the site of this resoning um petition. So, and I want anyone who who's listening to know I'm a very active voter in this community and so I'm I've got great hopes for you guys and great hopes for the rest of the county. Um, so I do appreciate all the efforts that you are making in order to sort out all the concerns [clears throat] of many constituents here in the face of the BWT zoning petition. It isn't easy when you've got state and federal forces leaning on you for this type of operation. However, as you know, your commission is a governmental entity and like the county commission, you're obliged to protect public health,

safety, and welfare in the course of all of your um public decisions. We the people have spoken loud and clear our many concerns about the serious risks if this reszoning is granted. Here are a few of my concerns that justify denial of the zoning request. First, the intended use and high industrial impact is grossly inconsistent with the surrounding farming and residential uses. The land is extremely important to sustaining life in our surrounding communities. It ought to be preserved in its agricultural and low density status. My second concern or point is that no buffer zone would be effective in protecting the quality of our water, air, soil, and food. Natural forces such as wind, rain, and brownwater movement do not recognize artificial man-made boundaries. So reduction of a building footprint will not protect surrounding natural resources from toxic impacts from the business. Our water supply, air, soil, and their garden nutrients provide for

all life in our area. Environmental conditions are undergoing major change. And this is a big one, guys. Um, we need um some attention paid with more extreme weather events, which we're not adequately prepared at this moment. remember. Okay. Um

well um I guess my my suggestions are deny the soldering request period is one option and you can find plenty of um justifications to do that in your regulations. place a moratorum on reszoning to high impact use use for any land adjacent to residential and agricultural properties. Um, and just don't compound an unfortunate decision made 50 years ago by expanding that noxious use in a precious slice of heaven on earth here. Thank you for your time and attention. Andrew [clears throat] uh Connie, I don't know how to pronounce your last name, sir. Just come on forward.

I apologize. Just cutting him. Cutting him with a W. My family is Scotch Irish. That's where the W comes from. But it's simple tonight. Uh, my name is Andy Cunningham. Wildlife Rachel and I, our two puppies, Lu and Cosner. We live about a mile directly east from this facility downwind. We were very concerned about this. My comments though tonight separate and apart the very public the very important public safety concerns that have been raised. Rather, they are legal points nature. I'm an attorney answer one of those. Okay. Uh I have two points and a question. First, [clears throat] in the 25 years I've been along with substantial land use experience, I have never seen a zoning request for a change in resoning this nature is so wildly inappropriate. Take this from an agriculture residential area to heavy industrial the characteristics of the land. They do not support this anyway. Second, [clears throat] I would urge the planning commission, the county commission to consider Pandora's box. If we if you prove this, what is going to be to keep some other land that's adjacent to another neighborhood in our community to say, well, I want to resone and have a heavy industrial. Maybe I want to do a big manufacturer facility or also with the current applicant wants to keep them from using the once this is approved. That in mind, I have a question. Can the

commission identify specific particular [snorts] land use evidence to justify this change? And what I mean by that is not this is going to create jobs or this is going to help this applicant uh with their bottom line. What I mean is how will this benefit the community from a land use perspective? What has changed? Is there all of a sudden more roads, more telephone communications here? How will it benefit the surrounding neighborhood? I urge you to vote no. Thank you so much. and it's coming in with a lot. Thank you. Before I call the next person, uh Luke Carter and Lorie Smiley can come from the other uh courtroom. And I have Autoil. Good evening. My name is Otto Keel. I am a Washington County resident. I live seven houses downstream from this facility. But actually, my [clears throat] concern is not so much my proximity to the facility as the experience of my last 45 years in both law enforcement on a local scale as well as working anti-terrorism operations for the United States Army. both of which I did a full career in. And one [clears throat] of the things that has me concerned about this facility is its likelihood, not possibility, but likelihood of being a terrorist target. Uh there are possibilities of being

sabotaged internally as well as having direct action missions, which means that a group of trained and equipped people go in, force their way in and conduct operations that would release materials in the form of a of a dirty bomb. And anybody who's kept uh track of the war in Ukraine over the last several years has learned what the capabilities of drone attacks on established facilities uh can do. And they're very very difficult to uh combat especially without very very uh expensive and uh and [clears throat] pretty much nearly impossible to to defeat and uh all three of these are uh not only viable but uh going to be looked at because anybody who's kept track of what's been happening over the last four years knows that uh uh the uh they've said [clears throat] that anywhere from uh thousands to potentially tous thousands of people have entered this country uh who have a direct intent to cause the United States harm. And these are people who have received both training as well as equipment to do so. And uh I am absolutely convinced that they're out there just waiting for uh the command to go. And there's been a lot of stuff going on in the world, especially recently. I uh Iran is in in extreme turmoil right now. And uh the people on their way out because I'm convinced they are on their way out may just decide that now is a good time to hit that go button. So, thank you for your time.

Hey, is Luke Carter here? Luke Carter Circle. Want to start with Mr. Johnson comment recently that most people that are in opposition to this were not from the area and a lot of people have spoken that

anyways I lived here for 46 years grew up on Chucky held a piece of uranium in my hand when I was in elementary school it's safer if it's outside your body the problem is once it gets inside the body that's when the radiation can harm I took a tour of the facility mountain high school. Mrs. Keys Mike thought it was a good idea for us to take a tour of the facility. I'm not quite sure why, but I learned about what depleted uranium does to a tank. I don't know what's important to the defense industry. I know they use it because it's cheaper than tungsten. Could [clears throat] use tungsten if you're cheaper. But my concern [clears throat] I have concerns about the local environment but also concerns about this material all together. I want Jones to be known for beautiful hills, the storytelling. I want to be known for the farmland. There are a lot of good things here. I don't want to be known for a town that produces a toxic and that's pretty much it. Thank you very much. Lori Smiley, I'm gonna give two more names. John Drake and Valerie Kenny. I believe it's Kenny. Hi, my name is Lorie Smiley and my daughter asked me why would I why would

I come here and you know she's a school teacher in Green County. Um we are neighbors of BWXT Cland Road a mile down. um we she farmers, she's a teacher. And I said, I wanted to take a look at each one of your you in the eye and and just tell you my concerns. [clears throat] And I think that's what we've lost is the ability to look at each other in in the eye and and communicate. The concerns that I have are uh several. Um, one, when you get or if you get this approved, um, what will happen? And after talking with BWXT, um, and, uh, several great gentlemen, and I I know they love their jobs, um, and it came out, what's going to happen if you don't get approval? And I came under the impression that they were going to do the work no matter what. And that's the elephant in the room is the government has granted a contract. They're going to do the work. So are they going to do it expansion that you know that expansion that they want um or are they just going to use the facility that they have? And if they get that expansion, if they get that plan, um, what's that going to be? Have you guys considered the water? The water that we get where we're at is from the no Chucky. And how is that going to affect the water system in Jonesboro?

That's a Jonesboro issue, town of Jonesboro. So that's something that the planning commission has to do uh impact study or something like that that has to be considered. Um the other thing is um when I was reading uh your notes from the last session, it said it referenced a Washington County land and use transportation policy plan. So I went and looked at that and I read it and one of the object object objectives of that it stated clearly the protection and enhancement of present and future livability is paramount to the maintenance of a superior quality of life within the county. So I would charge you is is what this expansion and what this company is doing enhancing the livability and quality of life. Thank you John.

[clears throat]

Ladies and gentlemen, I address your commissioners and even more directly representatives of BXT, BWXT. I actually hope you get the opportunity to build your little chemical plant. And I do say chemical plant. It is unfortunate that one of these chemicals happens to be But that is not a big concern. The problem with plants of this nature are not so much the materials they use, but the way they are used. And this is important to me because it's not your engineered controls. It's not your procedures. It's your management that makes the difference. Your managers control your operations. Now, I came to Jonesboro in 1982 to work for NFS and I worked there for 22 years, mostly in maintenance, mostly on broken down equipment. That means I'm down in the dirt and I know exactly what it amounts to. But since that time, I've also worked at Los Alamos, Oak Bridge, and seven other nuclear power stations that were operating, including, by the way, Three Mile Island. So, I worked in all of these places. And I will tell you that the big thing that I'm concerned about is your management. If you control your management, control your plant, there will be no problems. Thank you. while Valerie and Kenny is it is coming. Valerie Kenny, Jill Anderson, and Barbara O'Neal if they would come from the other court. [cough]

[clears throat] I think it's

Mallerie, are you chill? I have Valerie. I think it's Kenny,

Jill Anderson, and Barbara O'Neal. [clears throat] Max hearing. I got to go.

Good evening everybody. My name is Barbara O'Neal. Uh I live in Washington County and the reason I do I'm originally from Irwin and uh I moved to Washington County to get away from NFS [laughter] because I've [clears throat] done a lot of research since I have been retired and moved back here. And as a matter of fact, I prepared a over a 300page single space violation history of NFS. And it it the nuclear regulatory commission has that. The nuclear regulatory commission will have nothing to do with this facility. The the regulation of this facility, what little there is, is under permits from TEK. and Ted Deck sometimes goes for a long time before they do any kind of inspection. So th this is what the Department of Energy put out about this facility and this plan that they have. Now it may not be accurate. Now, my understanding from Tekk is that they're going to have to do another environmental assessment since BWXT did not have the contract prior to this coming out, but I have read this document three or four times. As a matter of fact, I put a copy in the library here in Jonesboro. Uh, but one of the things that probably bothers me more than anything about this is, and I'm going to give you all a copy of this for the record. This is a news release that came out in September the 30th, 2025, and it's from the Department of Energy. And all you need to do is just read the

last paragraph. It says this capacity will leverage DOE NNSA owned depleted uranium oxides converted at the DOE ports site to a close critical production capability gap for NNSA and reduce overall environmental liability for the DOE office of environmental management cleanup at Portsouth. So what are they going to do? to go bring this stuff down here from to Jonesboro and so they won't have to clean it up. That's that was five months ago this came out. And one of the things about NFS is it's in the city limits of Irwin. And I don't even recognize Irwin anymore from when I grow up as a child because all the houses are gone because they need a buffer zone. And that's probably what's going to happen here if you approve this. They're going to have to have a buffer zone. And so the farms, everything will probably eventually be gone because that's what's happened over there. And so really and truly and in this particular document it says 10 jobs and I'm hearing 175 jobs, 200 jobs. But at any rate, I'm a member of the Irwin Citizens Awareness Network. And I'll leave these two documents with you. Uh the one that I quoted here and the one that we put together, but I know what I'm talking about. and Little Limestone Creek probably can't take much more than what it's already taken. And it doesn't want to ask if Jill Anderson still

Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. Would you please ask speakers? I'll do that. Thanks, sir. Uh Jill Anderson or Valerie. It starts with the K. I think it's Kenny. [clears throat] While we're waiting on them, Barry, if you would like to come, Mary Williamson. [clears throat] Mary Williamson Williamson. Uh, our family lives in Washington County.

All right. Hi. Close to you so everybody can hear real well.

My name is Mary Williamson. Our family lives in Washington County. Um, I would like to uh let you know uh this article that I read um it is [clears throat] here a notification of insignificant activity that was sent to TEC from BWXT. Um, they plan on processing, this this was written in May of 2025, [clears throat] BWXT plans on processing 300 metric tons annually of um depleted urine. Here in Jonesboro, they are allowed and and they say this is insignificant to release up to five tons per year of each of these of non-hazardous air contaminants. Each contaminant up to five tons per year into the atmosphere. You can read that as pollution. Okay. In addition to the five tons, up to 1,000 pounds per year of each hazardous air pollutant will be allowed. Again, they state this as insignificant. These pollutants include U238, the more radioactive U234. It includes organic solvents,

hydrogen fluoride, and the highly toxic uranium hexoplide. These toxics toxins can damage the kidneys, the lungs, bone, liver and brain. These are what are supposed to be acceptable limits. And this is with no human error. Okay? And this is not even mentioning the runoff into the little limestone creek. These will be uh aerosolized. They will be in our our air in the Jonesboro Limestone community. The prevailing winds will take these contaminants directly past the high school, Crockett High School, directly through the elementary area, directly into Jonesboro proper in Johnson City. Uh we live currently 5.5 miles from the plan. We're very uncomfortable. We plan on building within three miles of the plant and we're not so sure that's going to happen. Um, I beg of you all to think of your constituents and to vote accordingly. There are a huge number of people that do not want to see this in our county. Thank you. Last call for Valerie Kimmy. Believe it's Kimmy and Joe Anderson.

Last call. Valerie Kimmy and Jill Anderson. Is anyone coming? Okay, this will conclude the public hearing one from the list. Which one? Suzanne Fort Gabriel.

I My apologies. Uh, Suzanne Fort.

Sorry.

Hello. My name is Suzanne Fort. My husband and I live in Telford, about a mile from BWXT. The little limestone creek runs right through the middle of our property. We have animals next to the creek. When it floods, the creek overflows the banks into our pasture. So, if BWXT is allowed to continue, my pasture will be contaminated. I plant and grow organic gardens. I don't use chemicals. How are we supposed to grow, raise our own food if it's being contaminated by BWXT? Have you given any thought to the wildlife that's going to be killed? We have Americanbald eagles flying over our property. So now we are going to poison their food source. What about those who hunt? If they do harvest a deer, how contaminated is the meat? Many families rely on that meat to feed their families. What about the damage to our honeybees? They talked about it being a good economical good for the economy. Really? Do you think people will travel to visit and spend money in a contaminated town? This will be the end of storytelling. Look at the revenue that will be lost from tourism. What is going what is this going to do to health cost when everybody starts developing cancers and dying? This is a death sentence for the future generations. Our property values will drop. Nobody will be able to sell because nobody's going to want to live here. Look at the revenue and jobs lost because of that. Realators, carpenters, builders, businesses that produce a product. How much is it going to cost the taxpayers when BWXT decides to move on to another

location and we will be left with a contaminated mess because that's what they've done in the past. Please don't forget how blessed we are to live in such an amazing, beautiful, historic area, such an important piece of Tennessee history. Please don't let BWXT pressure you into letting them reszone and destroy our history. Once it's gone, we can't get it back. Do not let Jonesboro, Telford, and all of East Tennessee be added to BWXT's forever contaminated areas. No company has the right to do that. This one decision will not only affect all of us locally, but our neighbors, Virginia and North Carolina. That little limestone creek water will make its way to the Gulf of America of America. That's a lot of people and land affected by this one decision. This project needs to be done far away from people and water sources. Please, let's celebrate America's 250th birthday by saying no to BWXT. Tell them we cannot be bought. This is our town, our land, our families that we have the right to protect. Thank you. Is there anyone else that signed up that has not spoken? We now close the public hearing for the BWXT uh reszoning and we go to the public hearing for the text management. Anybody wants to come to speak about that?

Hearing none on the text amendment. We uh go out of all the public hearings and we [clears throat] go to our agenda. pick back up with our planning commission meeting and the first thing is the new business and it'll be the reasoning request for BWXT Ordinance Tennessee and I'll ask staff to come and speak Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can you hear me? Okay.

Getting real close to you. Stand by. Is that better? Little.

All right. Thank you. I will begin by saying that staff have received multiple phone calls and emails from citizens in opposition to this request. I believe many of you were also copied on the electronic communications. I don't recall anything in those messages that differed from the information and the comments you heard this evening during public hearing. But I did want to advise you that we had received information The subject property, as you can see on the maps, currently has four different zoning designations assigned to it. It's R1, M2, A1, and A3. [clears throat] The commission may recall at the time of the original submitt, the request was to consider reszoning for the entire parcel, for the entire acreage, but since then, the petitioner admitted the request to reduce that reszoning area. So presently the request is for approximately 56 acres and that [clears throat] includes the R1 portion on the north along State Route 34, the A3 zoned portion that is immediately adjacent to the solar farm property which is zoned A3 and then a portion of the A1 zoned area in the middle of this property and that would be replaced with the expanding the M2 portion. The purpose of the request is to accommodate an expansion of the existing business, the Aerojet VW XT facility on the property. While a site plan for the expansion is not required as part of the resoning process, the petitioner has advised that the new building would be centrally located on the property. That would be outside of the southerntherly side of

that flood zone A designated area. The county's land use plan includes in development goals that it is essential to retain and expand the industrial development base to provide for the essential employment needs in the county and that the county should support all practical efforts to maintain and improve existing industrial site locations. Staff's recommendation is an assessment confined to the criteria in the county's adopted local regulations and policies. [clears throat] Staff is recommending approval of the request based upon the land use plans guidance, the existing industrial use on the property, and the existing M2 zoning in place on the property. Be happy to answer any questions. It's

open for discussion. When will they supply us with a new [clears throat] site? If the reszoning requests were to be approved, then the site plan would be the next step and that would be on the petitioner's timeline. It would be after their engineering calculations and designs were completed and submitted. I don't have a definitive answer for you on that, but it would be the next step in the process which would include all safety measures, storm catchment, runoff, all that. Correct.

Correct. We would be reviewing that for our storm water regulations and our flood plane regulations along with the zoning resolution requirements. Yes, sir. Mr. Yes.

Um kind of a followup um to Commissioner's question. Many of the emails [clears throat] I've received have said that before we approved the resoning, we needed a whole laundry list of of items including of site plan. But but you might speak to that in terms of the order of events. Um, and just tell us if any buildings or anything will be built until the county does receive and approve the site plan.

Yes, sir. Um, yes, the reasoning would be the first step in the process for an applicant and then that would be followed by the site plan submittal that would we would look to adhere to those zoning regulation requirements. um nothing [clears throat] um a structure would not be built or placed on the property prior to that site plan approval. So the site plan would be submitted to the zoning office and presented to to you for consideration, review and approval

relative to the site plan. Um, again, many many of the correspondents that I've seen reference, you know, why would you allow them to build in a flood plane, but but would staff approve a site plan that reflected buildings being built in the flood plane?

The the county does have adopted flood plane regulations, requirements. Um, so any plans that would be submitted would be reviewed for conformity, consistency with those regulations and requirements. I think a couple folks uh both tonight and and at one of the community meetings had referenced that the proposed freezoning was in violation of the county's comprehensive plan. Would you speak to that? And if I mean I think you kind of covered it in your opening comments, but if you would speak to the comprehensive plan specific to this resoning and and as the county's professional planning director, do you believe it is in contradiction with the comprehensive plan?

From staff's review, it is consistent with the comprehensive plan in terms of expanding industrial development um preserving protecting those existing businesses. Um, additionally, the zoning that is present in the area already is the M2 zoning which is requested this evening. So, it's not an introduction of a new zoning district to the area. It is the expansion of an existing district and followed that with the land use of the property already being industrial. It's not changing the character of the use of that land. It's expanding the existing use. Well, hopefully I'm not the only one with questions, but speak again to that or expand on that a little bit because again, I think one of the suggestions was that if this reszoning were to be approved, it would be considered spot zoning. You didn't use that that moniker there a moment ago, spot zoning, but would you speak to that? Is is this or would this be spot zoning?

No, sir. but not because the zoning and the use are already present on site.

Other questions? I have a question. [clears throat and cough] So you spoke that this is an expansion. My interpretation of expansion is just increasing the size of the current operation. Is that correct? Correct. By by expansion, we mean expansion of the the business of the use, not specifically this existing structure on the property, but [snorts] the use of it. discussion. [clears throat]

I think this may be my last question, but again at the community meeting someone referenced or they expressed the fear that if this resoning were approved [clears throat] and then for whatever reason BWXT's planned expansion did not take place and [clears throat] the land's already reszoned and it would just become an industrial park as if just poof it went from being one thing to an industrial park. Could you you speak to that a little bit about you know the likelihood that this would become an industrial park or if that were to happen the many steps that would be involved in that process.

Sure. it sure it's it's difficult to answer the the whatifs but the it's the most technical answer that I can provide to you would be if this company did not pursue construction you had a change in ownership anything like that before any structures would be built on the property they would still require site plan approval from this body and we would be looking to see whether or not those uses were in conformity with the zoning district property also would have to be subdivided, would it not?

If you were looking to do if you if you're thinking of like an industrial park like the county correct correct

other comments, questions?

Uh I just to clarify a couple of things that were mentioned. uh that we are the last line of defense. We are not uh no matter how we vote. The commission has to approve or disapprove. I mean two months ago we we turned down a request for a court and the commission approved it. So um there's [clears throat] three weeks between now and the commission meeting. So I I don't know that it would change anybody's mind, but that gives three weeks to uh get with the BWX to clarify a lot of questions like the uh Mr. Libson said, the retired Navy sub guy. Yeah, there has been a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of misinformation. So [clears throat] I just I mean I'll just say you know I don't know how these other fellas are going to vote. I haven't talked to him about it but uh there there has on both sides there has not been enough in some places it's been misinformation. So you know you have to dig to really get to what you want to know. So I would say

yes. [clears throat] First, I want to commend everyone here tonight. It's really refreshing from a [laughter] commission standpoint to see the passion from [clears throat] this community. I wish that we had this type of involvement all the time in our county go actually ask a favor. There's elections coming up in May. I hope you all can be the stimulus to increase our turnout. 13 to 15% of the people vote.

That should be at least double. We are a representative government. People have to get out and vote. Please take your passion and share it across this whole county. I have had countless emails, phone calls, text, which I truly appreciate. I can't represent people unless I know what they think. 5560 people. That's a lot. But that's really relatively small percentage of the entire county. So we have to represent the entire county. And I'm only saying that just so that you you have full awareness of that. [snorts] I heard some calls say, "Well, let's just defer this." My opinion as elected officials, we are here to represent. We're also here to make decisions. I had a phone call yesterday. It really resonates with me. Young family, two children, love this area. They're concerned about this as you all have voiced and they have the same concerns. They're actually looking for other property right now because they want to maintain the health of their children. We can't defer this. We cannot keep people in limbo. The stress of that and the anxiety of that, the fear of [clears throat] the unknown. We have to take action. And Mr. Deacon said this will go to the full commission at the January 26 meeting, no matter what we vote.

I heard several comments tonight, but one thing that I heard trust. I think there's a big lack of trust between the community, residents, and the company. [clears throat] Between now and that meeting on the 26th, however we vote, I'm going to issue two challenges. One, I would ask you as a group and you have some leaders there, make sure you get a document that lists your concerns. Get it to the individuals. One single document. One single document. get that to the officials at BWXT. My challenge to BWXT, address those concerns, build that trust. You know, I had a mentor of mine always told me, he said, "Never go into a meeting unless you know the outcome of the meeting." And with a very puzzled look, I ask you, "How on earth can you do that?" Obtain all the facts. You make a factbased decision. 99.9% of the time, it's going to be the right decision. Again, a lot of misinformation out here. As a commissioner that are we voting on this on the 26, I want the facts. I want all the concerns addressed. I've heard this has happened at three mile. I had someone this morning. Now, where's this nuclear plant going?

I didn't really even know how to answer that one. I want to know the truth. This facility has been here [clears throat] many years. I want to know your track record. any operation, any organization, you have challenges, you have issues, mistakes are made. I want to know how you address those, how you corrected those. We had one individual tonight that really I thought made a a fantastic statement. It's the management of the company that ensures the success and the safety of that.

I think that's the challenge to BWXT. Ensure the trust is there. Validate your track record. Validate your process moving forward. make the decision obvious would be my challenge. With that, I'm going to make a motion. And out of respect to the 5,560 people and everyone that is here tonight, my motion will be based on that. But let me clarify. The motion that I make tonight and support tonight is no way reflective of how I will vote on the 26. As I shared earlier tonight, I had some very wise counsel before I took office. Never make a commitment before a meeting. You do not know what's going to come up at that meeting. what information, what facts will come forward at that meeting. So, I'm going to move that we move this forward to the full [clears throat] county commission again with the support of the people here tonight that it be denied. Now, I will caution you. Don't walk out of here with a [clears throat] false sense of hope of victory. There's 14 other commissioners and myself. They [clears throat] will not make that decision until January the 26th. Please understand that to everyone. That's my motion. Mr. Chairman,

motion is made to deny resing. Is there a second? It was to deny. To deny. It was to deny. Yes. Is there a second? Second. The motion is made, seconded to deny discussion.

Yeah. One more question and I hear scoffing about whether or not there's been misinformation. I I would suggest to you that you haven't seen the emails I've received. One of those that I do want to just clarify for future reference. And I don't know, Miss Charles, if this is best for you or the county attorney, but I received at least two emails suggesting that the county was offering BWXT tax incentives for this expansion. So, Miss Charles, if you or our county attorney could could either confirm or deny that, but again, I've received emails stating that there were tax incentives involved.

I'm happy to address it. Is this Can you hear me? Okay. Is this working? No.

If I speak like this, can you hear me? Uh, the tax incentives that the county has are handled separately from zoning. There is either tax increment financing. There are payments in lie of taxes. none of those have been um presented for consideration with respect to either this property or this property owner or this company or this operation. So what I'm saying is that there is no tax incentive currently on the table or being considered by the county of which the county attorney is aware. Does that address what you've been asked?

Thank you, Commissioner. So those emails I received stating that there were tax incentives being offered though that would be misinformation. Is that correct? That sounds like a misunderstanding of uh the conflating the terms but and that we were receiving money to to approve it. I'm not aware that would be a conflict of interest if any of the voting body had any financial interest in the outcome of the request and I am not aware of any uh such conduct. Last question and I'll I'll shut up tonight. I think

um this is a concept that sometimes it's hard for me to wrap my brain around. Most of the comments and conversation we've had tonight about this resoning request has been regarding a specific use. But as I understand it, and I will ask either Miss Charles, Miss Wilkinson, our county attorney, to remind me to help me better understand it, when a property gets reszoned, how does the specific use come into play or does it So if you're reszoning to any district and once the property is reszoned any of the permitted uses allowed in that district would be permissible on site. So if they meet the criteria of that zoning district they would be allowed

but a site plan would still have to be submitted for approval. Yes sir. So again to help me me better understand If the reasonzoning were approved, are we reszoning for a specific purpose or are we reszoning for any purpose allowed in that particular zone? It would be any use allowed in the particular zone. Thanks.

Further discussion hearing? None. I'm going to ask for a roll call vote. The motion is to deny the reasoning request or recommendation to the county commission to deny it. Uh M. Charles got the So yes, that is denied. If we vote yes, it is to deny. Chair Lley, you are abstaining. Great.

A motion to deny or sec.

Yes or no? I'm torn. I am. I'm told I think it's part of our national spirit. I really do. I'm sorry.

But I will vote. Yes. To deny to deny. Mr. Wolf. Yes. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mr. Deakons. No Commissioner Malone. No. Commissioner Hubine. Yes. Motion is three to two. Three to two. The motion is I've captured it is 4 to two. Four to two. I'm sorry. So motion passes. So the motion to deny is passed. Yes sir.

[laughter] make a short recess. Uh the commission has two other items of business to attend to. Anybody here that does not want to stay for that is welcome to leave. But we going to give about a five minute.

I'd like to continue our meeting. It is now out of turn. Next item of business is site plan request uh the Jeff Jones complex 125 Charlie House Road. And uh I'll turn it over to staff.

Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. This is a site plan request at 125 Charlie House Road. Uh it's for one structure that being a two family dwelling with associated parking of six parking spaces in the front yard. Uh due to the low intensity of this development, there will be no storm water regulations in place. It does to serve less than.3 acres. Um also with two family dwellings, they are exempt from appendix A landscape regulations. So there will be no frontage landscaping or transitional yard arts. That being said, staff recommends approval. All question have a motion. Is there a motion or is there discussion? Motion to approve.

Yes. Motion made and seconded to approve. All in favor indicate saying I.

I know. passes and then we go to the text amendment that is before us and this is the amending the definitions of the meat products manufacturing [clears throat] and slaughterhouse of the zoning resolution. Thank [snorts] you. This is a staff initiated text amendment. Uh this is concerning article two the definition section of the zoning resolution. First of which we have two similar uses here when you kind of look at their definitions. meat product manufacturing are allowed in the M2 high impact use while a slaughter house is allowed in the A3. However, some repetitive phrasing and wordings in here such as the killing and processing of animals as well as one being a building, one being a facility and it makes a little bit for confusing when and how you process these when there's a lot of overlap words. Staff sees the slaughterhouse as more of an agricultural based business while the meat product manufacturing and talk about rendering plants and things like that being a little bit more industrial. Uh so further delineating these as a slaughter house is not meat beef product manufacturing but that manufacturing plant can include the slaughter house. So the staff does recommend approval on this as well.

Okay discussion move to approve second. Any further discussion? All in favor in saying I I oppose. No. And that's the end of it. I'll entertain motion to