I-3 zoning hearing, final reading scheduled

A public hearing and final reading is scheduled to be held Thursday for an ordinance that would re-enact the creation of an I-3, or Industrial Zone, in Shelbyville -- a topic that has been at the center of a five-year lawsuit over a rock quarry.

One of the items on the Shelbyville city council agenda this week is an ordinance that clarifies which type of facilities that will be permitted as special exceptions inside an I-3 district, which the city previously adopted by ordinance in 2004.

That 2004 ordinance deleted certain uses, including stone quarrying and crushing, from the city's I-2 zones.

However, that ordinance was the center of a lawsuit filed by Norma and Tommy Wright, Wright Paving Co. Inc. and Custom Stone LLC, who claimed the city did not give adequate notice of the change in zoning laws they claimed impacted their property.

The Wrights had sued the city, the city council and planning commission over a 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.

But a decision filed by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in November 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" and found the notice to be insufficient.

As a result, the ordinance the council passed in 2004 was declared invalid.

Exceptions

The new ordinance states the city "wishes to clarify" the 2004 ordinance by including a list of facilities which are to be permitted as conditional uses, or special exceptions, in the I-3 district.

The following uses would be allowed:

* Detention or correction institutions

* Asphaltic cement plants

* Automobile wrecking yards

* Cement and/or concrete plants

* Junk yards

* Ordnance or accessories manufacturing

* Chemical fertilizer & non-metallic mineral mining

* Clay, ceramic & refractory minerals

* Coal mining

* Crude petroleum & natural gas production & field

* Metal ore & mineral mining

* Sand & gravel quarrying

* Stone quarrying

* Bulk storage of propane, crude petroleum, natural gas or other hazardous substances.

All the uses currently allowed as either permitted or conditional uses in the I-2 district will be deleted from that zone.

No answer to letter

The city council voted last month to appeal the November ruling to the Tennessee Supreme Court and because of that, Shelbyville has yet to respond to a letter from the Wrights, who have asked to have their 5-year-old application for the rock quarry heard, effectively placing the issue in limbo.

The Wrights wrote 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.

The council had been scheduled on the evening of Nov. 12 last 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.

The Wrights said in their 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."

The city council meets Thursday in the courtroom at the Shelbyville Police Department, starting at 6 p.m.