Officials now await Wrights' response

The Tennessee Supreme Court has refused to hear the City of Shelbyville's appeal of a ruling that involved a change in zoning laws and a suit brought by a local paving company.

Last November, the city lost an appeal with Norma and Tommy Wright, Wright Paving Co. Inc. and Custom Stone LLC, who claimed in a suit that the city did not give adequate notice of a change in zoning laws they say impacted their property.

The city council voted last December to appeal the case to the state's Supreme Court, but this week, the court turned down the city's application for the appeal.

So now, according to city attorney Ginger Shofner, the city will have to follow the law that was set down in the case "according to how the middle district court ruled."

The Wrights had sued the city, the city council and planning commission over a proposed rock quarry 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, the decision filed by the Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville last 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 by the Court of Appeals.

What now?

As for the next step, "we're waiting to see what they (the Wrights) want to do now," Shofner said on Friday.

After the appeals court ruling last November, the Wrights sent the city a letter stating that it was their intention to have their application "that has been pending for a Special Condition in the I-2 District heard at this time."

The letter was sent to Mark Clanton, who was acting codes official at the time, in reference to the application they made in February 2004 "for a Special Condition for a Rock Quarry within an 1-2 Zoning District."

Last December, the Wrights' request was submitted to the city "to keep this application pending until a later specified date," the letter stated.

"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."

Before the Wrights' suit, 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 the Wrights' letter to Clanton, they stated 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, 2009 to approve a 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.

Quarry controversial

However, in January of this year, the council voted to re-enact the creation of a Special Impact Industrial District geared for specific facilities.

The new ordinance included a list of facilities that are to be permitted as conditional uses, or special exceptions, in the I-3 district, such as correctional institutions, junkyards and quarrying activities.

Shofner said Friday that the appeal court's decision would not impact the ordinance passed in January.

"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 Wrights' letter stated last November.

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

But since the city appealed the case five months ago, officials have been unsure how to deal with any applications that the Wrights may make in regards to a rock quarry.

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

During the Nov. 18, 2004 meeting of Shelbyville Municipal Planning Commission, many 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."