By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Hours before the Board of Zoning Appeals is set to consider a Phase 2 special exception for Chip Hayes’ Retreat at Whiskey Creek development this afternoon, a neighboring property owner used Monday night’s Metro Council meeting to list a series of Phase 1 commitments she says remain unmet.

Aurelia Swann, who was added to the public comment list Monday after contacting the mayor’s office before the 4 p.m. deadline, told the council she has “serious concerns about any additional development” at Whiskey Creek until the current phase is finished and outstanding requirements are met. She said Hayes’ “inattention to promises being kept, whether they’re written or oral,” made her uneasy about the county approving anything further. Swann owns property adjacent to The Retreat and is currently in a property line dispute with Hayes.

Swann read a list of specific items into the record, including: a bridge crossing Mulberry Creek that she said needs certification meeting or exceeding local and state requirements, including sign-off from a licensed professional engineer; completion of internal roads to the county’s chip-and-gravel standard, as opposed to the temporary ingress-egress road she said is being used for personal vehicles, recreational vehicles and foot traffic it was not built for; two lots she described as landlocked; an encroachment by a current lot owner onto a neighboring property that she said the developer has not addressed; damage to a driveway along the ingress-egress route that she said has gone unrepaired; fencing she said was promised to both the Planning Commission and neighbors but not installed; and construction material and debris she said should not be stored on land outside the development’s boundaries

Swan asked the council to deny any additional development approval until Phase 1 is complete and said she has been unable to reach Hayes directly.

The bridge question surfaced again later in the meeting, when a Council Member Dexter Golden raised the safety of the Mulberry Creek crossing for emergency vehicle access, tied to variance provisions that address property access during flood or other emergencies. He presented a photograph of a county firetruck sitting on the bridge, which clearly shows a 15-ton weight-limit sign posted on the bridge when it was first built. Retreat officials have since removed that sign. Golden read into the record the weights of the county’s fire apparatus: Tanker 1 at 43,240 pounds, Rescue 400 at 37,250 pounds, and an engine at 37,608 pounds — all above a 15-ton (30,000-pound) rating. Officials said the county’s insurer has not decided on the bridge either for or against those vehicles crossing it; the information was presented for the council’s awareness only.

The Board of Zoning Appeals meets this afternoon to consider a special exception that would allow Hayes to move forward with Phase 2 of the development. That meeting will take place at the County Building located at 241 Main Street in Lynchburg at 5:30 p.m. •

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