By Tabitha Evans Moore
 Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — It takes up just two pages of Metro Moore County’s Zoning Ordinance but on Tuesday’s Planning & Zoning Commission meeting the five members of the Commission present and Gateway Development Company could not come to a shared definition of a zoned lot and the number of townhomes allowed on the 5.13 acres lot located along Main Street in Lynchburg.

The result: the motion to approve the preliminary site plan for a 42-unit townhouse development located near the intersection of Highway 55 and Main Street failed by a 3-1 margin. Bobby Carroll voted in favor of the approval. Chair Dexter Golden, Jim Crawford, and Scott Fruehauf voted against the approval. Member Jeff Ross abstained from the vote. Members Jimmy Hammond and Angelica Lightfoot were absent from the meeting.

In a discussion that took up nearly an hour of the meeting, Planning Commission members as well as Metro Attorney Bill Reider went back and forth with Gateway’s Troy Woodis and Gateway Attorney Madison Hayes on the definition of a townhome and a zoned lot.

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SOME BACKGROUND

Gateway Development Company is seeking to develop a 5.13-acre parcel on Main Street near the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway 55. The property is currently owned by Stanley and Terry Sue Fanning. Gateway is listed on its planning commission application, filed May 13, 2026, as a potential buyer.

The site plan, prepared by Morell Engineering and presented as construction-ready, proposes 42 townhome units arranged in attached clusters around a central parking area, with a single access point off Main Street.

On Tuesday, Gateway told the commission that when it began planning the project, apartments were a permitted use in the R-1 zoning district that covers the property.

In May 2025, the Metro Council amended the R-1 district ordinance and removed apartments as a permitted use. During that meeting, Golden explained to the Council that the purpose of removing apartments from R-1 was to keep commercial projects out of residential zoning and to give the Planning Commission the ability to review commercial zoning for large projects that might impact infrastructure.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Planning Chair Golden reminded Gateway that no site plan or building permit had been filed at the time of that change.

THE FIGHT OVER THE DEFINITION

With the apartment question set aside, the commission and Gateway turned to the central dispute of the evening: how many townhome units does the Metro zoning ordinance permit on a 5.13-acre R-1 lot?

Golden opened his ordinance book and read the definition aloud. The Metro Moore County Zoning Ordinance defines a Town House as follows:

“TOWN HOUSE: means a building, located upon one (1) zone lot, containing not more than two (2) dwelling units, attached at the side or sides in a series of three (3) or more principal buildings each containing not more than two (2) dwelling units. At points of attachment, such buildings shall be separated from each other by fire walls extending from footings through roofs without openings.”

Golden noted that the phrase “not more than two dwelling units” appears twice in that definition.

“This goes back to a density issue,” he said. “It’s all it is.”

The definition places each townhouse building on “one zone lot.” The ordinance defines a zone lot as:

“ZONE LOT: For the purposes of this ordinance, a lot is a parcel of contiguous land which is or may be developed or utilized under one ownership as a unit site for a use or group of uses and which is of at least sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage, and area.”

Applying the half-acre minimum to Gateway’s 5.13-acre parcel, Golden calculated the property supports roughly 10 zone lots. With two dwelling units permitted per zone lot under the townhome definition, he arrived at approximately 20 to 21 units.

“Comes out to twenty point seventy-eight,” he said.

Hayes offered a different reading. She argued that each individual townhome unit — with its own front door, kitchen, and back door — constitutes a single building containing one dwelling unit. Under her interpretation, the entire 5.13-acre parcel functions as one zone lot, and density is governed by the square footage table rather than the half-acre minimum.

“One kitchen is the easiest way I think to think about it per building,” Hayes said.

Under Gateway’s square footage calculation: the parcel’s 223,379 total square feet, minus 25,000 for the first four units, leaves 198,379 square feet. At 5,000 square feet per additional unit, that yields roughly 39 more units — for a total of 43, which Gateway rounded to 42.

Golden was direct in his response to Hayes’s reading.

“Well, that’s not what the definition is saying. I can’t insert ‘one’ into the definition if it’s not there.”

Metro Attorney Bill Reider, asked to settle the disagreement, declined to rule.

“There is obviously a difference of opinion on this,” he said, “and there is a mechanism to go up and resolve that up the administrative ladder.”

Commission member Scott Fruehauf put it plainly: “The reason you’re getting turned down tonight is the disagreement on the definition of townhome, which looks very similar to the apartment layout. And it’s a density issue.”

THE ROAD ACCESS CONCERN

Alongside the definition dispute, the commission raised sustained concerns about the project’s single access point off Main Street/Highway 50.

Officials said TDOT reviewed the site plan and has required right-in, right-out access only, meaning all vehicles leaving the development must turn right and travel toward downtown Lynchburg. Gateway said it plans to appeal that determination. Woodis told the commission his engineer’s measurements meet TDOT’s sight distance standards to the exact footage.

“We are going to go back and appeal to do the full left in, left out, right in, right out — a full cut is what they call it,” Woodis said.

Commission members brought up the concern that a “full cut” might require eminent domain land use from the surrounding parcels of land that include Woodard’s Market and the Bedford-Moore Co-op.

Roads Superintendent Shannon Cauble did not share Gateway’s confidence.

“I think it’s going to put too much stress on an already stressed area,” she said. “Essentially, TDOT is saying this is not an appropriate location.”

Fruehauf described the geometric difficulty: moving the access point back to improve sight lines would eliminate the distance needed to meet TDOT’s requirements.

“You put it all the way to the edge because you had to,” he said.

The site plan itself notes in its TDOT Plan Notes that “all driveways meet TDOT intersection sight distance standards except as noted.”

Golden cited cumulative traffic concerns as well.

“You’re also pushing a tremendous amount of traffic leaving this lot back into Main Street on top of 80 tiny homes that have not even been approved yet,” he said. “I would not feel comfortable approving anything on a preliminary, at least without a traffic study in place.”

Hayes noted that a traffic study is not required by the zoning ordinance for a preliminary plat. Fruehauf agreed it was not required at this stage but said the commission had an obligation to raise the concern now rather than at final approval.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Following the vote, Attorney Reider outlined the appeal options available to Gateway. The company may take the matter to the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals. Either party that is dissatisfied with that outcome may then appeal to the courts. Hayes indicated Gateway may also pursue a statutory avenue that bypasses the Board of Zoning Appeals, though that question was not resolved at the meeting.

The two sides left the room with their positions unchanged. The commission holds that the ordinance, read through the townhome definition and zone lot minimum, permits approximately 20 units on the property. Gateway holds that the square footage table governs and that 42 units is the correct number. The ordinance text is available to the public at the Metro Moore County Planning Commission office.

The Lynchburg Times will continue to follow this story. •

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