By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — The council’s second reading of a rezoning request for 9.4 acres on Tanyard Hill Road, owned by Joseph Denby, failed Monday night on a roll call vote, meaning the rezoning does not take effect and would have to be reintroduced at a future meeting to be considered again.

The Metro Council failed the first reading of the rezoning 2-11 in July and passed a second attempt at a first reading 8-5 in August — but five of those Council members are no longer seated.

At the public hearing beforehand, surveyor Nicholas Northcutt spoke on Denby’s behalf, describing the request as “routine” for seven road-frontage lots with no rezoning sought on the remaining acreage behind them. He pointed to a similar rezoning the council had approved less than a year earlier, “Kinsley’s Retreat,” as a comparable case with larger rear tracts and road-frontage lots. Responding to Council Member Peggy Blackburn’s question about the back portion of the property, Northcutt said the terrain was too steep to develop and that the scaled-back request — road frontage only — was meant to address the concerns raised when this came up previously.

During the public comment period of the regular meeting, Council Member and Planning Commission Chair Dexter Golden addressed the criticism of the planning department raised at last month’s meeting, without naming Northcutt directly at first but later referencing both him and Denby by name and saying they’d “done a good job working with us.” Golden said the department has a subdivision and zoning ordinance book governing the process, walked through a timeline of the application, and said records show a copy of the updated zoning ordinance was purchased on May 27 — which he said was relevant because it states any agricultural land reduced below five acres requires rezoning. He said the point was educational rather than a rebuttal, called Codes Officer Christine’s work “fantastic,” and said the county could still improve its process. Robert Bracewell followed up to confirm the May 27 book purchase contained the 5-acre language, which he said had been “the condition of my vote” previously. Golden affirmed that the book purchase by Northcutt and Denby contained the 5-acre language.

When the second reading came up under old business, Golden said he would abstain “since I spoke on the public comment.” Peggy Sue Blackburn made a motion to approve the second reading and Arvis Bobo seconded. The motion failed by a 3-7 margin with Arvis Bobo, Amy Cashion, and Peggy Sue Blackburn voting in favor of the rezoning and Robert Bracewell, Bradley Dye, Jason Estfon, Brady Goodwin, Sunny Rae Moorehead, Payton Keller, and John Oosting voting against the motion.

Members Shane Taylor, Douglas Carson, Brandon Ross, and Regina Adcock were all absent from the meeting. 

The motion to approve the rezoning is now dead, and the property reverts back to its original agricultural zoning. The path to reconsideration is unclear, but any move to do so at the Metro Council level must come from the “prevailing side” — meaning one of the council members who voted no. Generally, under the rules governing the two-reading process, a failed second reading means the matter must start over from first reading if revived. Neither Mayor Sloan Stewart nor Metro Attorney Bill Rieder gave any indication of specific Metro ordinances that might guide the process forward.•

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