By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — According to Metro Moore County officials, Metro’s insurance carrier has denied coverage for some county vehicles on the private-access bridge at the Retreat at Whiskey Creek development — a determination that leaves the development without confirmed emergency vehicle access from either direction. Planning Commission Chair Dexter Golden disclosed the update at Tuesday night’s Metro Planning Commission meeting.

“From what our insurance has told us through Tennessee Risk Management, they have not confirmed anything with the engineer that did the study on the bridge, and they are not approving that for our county vehicles,” Golden said. “They have denied that.”

The disclosure closes a significant loop in an ongoing public safety question that has shadowed the Whiskey Creek development for several months: whether emergency vehicles can safely reach the property.

NO CONFIRMED EMERGENCY ACCESS FROM EITHER DIRECTION

The insurance denial eliminates the primary route Whiskey Retreat officials have argued should serve the development. But a second potential access point — a back easement through adjacent property owned by neighbor Aurelia Swann — also does not provide emergency vehicle access, Golden clarified at Tuesday’s meeting.

Swann — who is the daughter of the Don Spencer, the former owner of the Lynchburg Wilderness RV Park who died in 2018 — has granted a construction easement only. The Retreat at Whiskey Creek sits on much of the former RV park’s footprint along Main Street.

As of Tuesday’s meeting, the Retreat at Whiskey Creek — a development with site-built homes and lot owners — has no confirmed emergency vehicle access route that Moore County’s insurance carrier has approved, and no confirmed alternative route available for emergency response.

INSURANCE CARRIER CAN NOT CONFIRM ENGINEER’S CREDENTIALS

Tennessee Risk Management’s denial is directly tied to the unresolved questions surrounding the bridge assessment submitted by Whiskey Retreat developer Chip Hayes to county officials earlier this year. As The Lynchburg Times reported in June, that assessment was produced by Kassam Ahmed Kimera Bhegani of Bhegani Engineering, LLC — an engineer who holds an Engineer Intern certification, not a Professional Engineer license in Tennessee. Bhegani’s own signed 2011 application for that certification states explicitly that it “will not authorize me to practice engineering or make public use of the title ‘engineer” and acknowledged that engineering tasks must be performed under the supervision of a Professional Engineer.

The Tennessee State Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners opened complaint number 202603950 against Bhegani for unlicensed activity on June 9, 2026. The complaint is active and is scheduled to be heard at the board’s August 6 meeting. You can read The Lynchburg Times’ full investigation into Bhegani’s credentials here.

Following publication of that report, Bhegani Engineering issued a written statement claiming the assessment was performed under the supervision of licensed Professional Engineer Jonathan Clark. The Lynchburg Times undertook independent efforts to verify that claim — contacting Clark by phone, text, and email through contact information provided by TDCI. A primary phone number was disconnected. A secondary number went to a full voicemail box. Clark has not responded to any contact attempt. The firm’s registered address on file with the state is currently occupied by an unrelated business.

Moore County’s insurance carrier has reached the same conclusion independently.

“They cannot confirm that either,” Golden said Tuesday of Clark’s claimed involvement.

COMMERCIAL ENTRANCE ALSO DENIED

The insurance denial compounds an already significant access problem for the development. As The Lynchburg Times reported in June, Moore County Road Superintendent Shannon Cauble formally denied Hayes’s request for a commercial entrance at 1075 Main Street — the access point adjacent to the south side of the Main Street Bridge — calling a safe commercial entrance at that location “a physical impossibility.” You can read that full report here.

Cauble’s official statement to the Planning Committee identified four compounding factors making the entrance permanently unworkable: accelerated structural stress on the bridge deck from commercial traffic, encroachment into a critical bridge safety zone, a dangerous driveway skew, and legal conflicts with a shared easement involving a non-consenting residential neighbor.

Taken together, the insurance denial on the bridge, the formal denial of the commercial entrance, and the construction-only limitation on the back easement mean that the Retreat at Whiskey Creek currently has no approved, insured emergency vehicle access route — despite having homes built. Those homes also had no access to water or sewer as of the most recent public meeting in which the matter was addressed, as that infrastructure remains incomplete and unapproved by Metro Utility Department officials.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Mayor Stewart previously told The Lynchburg Times that the county’s insurance carrier will likely require a new bridge assessment from a licensed Professional Engineer before making any determination on coverage. No such study has been commissioned or submitted as of publication. Terms of the new study are that both Metro and Whiskey Retreat agree on the engineer performing the work. •

About the Lynchburg Times: The Lynchburg Times is Moore County’s locally owned, independent news source and the only local media source own by a Lynchburg native. Our reporting is supported by readers, small business partners, and underwriters who believe community journalism matters. If this story was valuable to you, consider becoming a supporter at lynchburgtimes.com.