City quarry decision may await court ruling

Shelbyville has yet to respond to a letter from a local business that has asked to have a 5-year-old application for a rock quarry heard.

However, the city recorder said that the matter may have to wait until the Tennessee Supreme Court rules on an appeal requested last week by Shelbyville City Council.

Norma and Tommy Wright of Custom Stone LLC/Wright Paving Contractors Inc. submitted a letter last month to acting codes official Mark Clanton in reference to an application they made in February 2004 "for a Special Condition for a Rock Quarry within an 1-2 Zoning District."

One month later, the Wrights' request was submitted to the city "to keep this application pending until a later specified date," the letter states. "Since that time, the City of Shelbyville Custom Stone LLC/Wright Paving Contractors Inc. have been tied up in litigation concerning the city's creation of an I-3 Zone for rock quarries and other heavy industry."

At the time, Shelbyville only possessed two industrial zones -- I-1 and I-2. Mining and quarrying activity was allowed as a conditional use in the I-2 zone.

However, the city council introduced an ordinance in May 2004 that added an I-3 industrial zoning district which deleted certain uses, including stone quarrying and crushing, from I-2.

In limbo

The city lost an appeal last month with the Wrights, who claimed the city did not give adequate notice of the change in zoning laws they say impacted their property.

City recorder Betty Lamb said this week that the city has not responded to the Nov. 12 letter because at the time, the staff had no idea if the city council would vote to appeal the decision of the appellate court.

And since the city council voted last week to appeal the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the issue is again effectively in limbo.

The Wrights had sued the city, the city council and the city planning commission over the proposed rock quarry on L. Fisher Road, which was turned down for approval in January 2005.

Summary judgement was granted in December 2008 in favor of Shelbyville by Judge Lee Russell, who found that the ordinance in question complied with all public notice requirements.

However, a decision filed by the Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville in November of this year ruled that the city's published notice in regards to the 2004 zoning change "failed to provide reasonable notice to landowners that their property may be affected."

As a result, the ordinance the council passed in 2004 was declared invalid by the Court of Appeals.

In the Wrights' letter to Clanton, they state that as a result of the appeal court's ruling "we are of the belief that the I-3 Zone no longer exists within the City of Shelbyville's Zoning Regulations, even if a third and final reading of such regulation were attempted to be approved tonight."

The council had been scheduled on the evening of Nov. 12 this year to approve the third and final reading to a new amendment that would have simply reconfirmed the I-3 requirement.

But following an attorney/client meeting before the council meeting that night, no action was taken on the matter.

Controversial quarry

The Wrights said in their Nov. 12 letter that it was their intention "to have the application that has been pending for a Special Condition in the I-2 District heard at this time.

"We understand that a significant amount of time has passed and that the City may need for the application to be resubmitted and updated for it to be heard," the letter states.

The Wrights added they would accommodate with Shelbyville "with whatever needs may exist for the application to be considered."

Five years ago, the issue of the Wrights' proposed rock quarry was controversial.

During the Nov. 18, 2004 meeting of Shelbyville Municipal Planning Commission, several citizens attended to oppose the proposed quarry, which would be several hundred feet from another quarry on Railroad Avenue. Planning commissioners at that meeting unanimously denied an application for the site under I-2.

However, the Wrights submitted a new application on Dec. 2, 2004 for a rock quarry under I-3 zoning.

The city council turned down their request in January 2005 "on the basis that the proposed location is close to residential development and community facilities and a rock quarry at that location would adversely affect property values and property use."