John Coffelt, Editor

Following a discussion by the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen during the March 4 meeting, the city attorney drafted a letter to the County Commission addressing concerns related to a series of zoning resolution changes meant to curb rural development.

Messick invited local surveyor Nicolas Northcutt to discuss some of the proposed changes. These changes, according to Northcutt, include sweeping restrictions that would drastically limit where a major subdivision could be built in the rural parts of the county. A major subdivision is any division of land resulting in more than four lots.

Northcutt said the county was rushing the matter based on a push by a few people rather than moving in the best interests of the whole population. 

“The reason that they say this is happening is to protect farmers and protect farmland,” he said. “The real reason is that it is to stop growth.”

Northcutt said that the proposed restrictions will negatively impact farmers.

“Nobody is telling farmers they can’t farm,” he said. “When (the changes) come to a head is when the farmer is 80 years old and passes away and his 80-year-old-wife is left with the farm. That is when their lifetime of hard work and investment in what is mostly likely their most valuable asset that’s where it’s going to hurt them.”

The proposed changes, Northcutt said, devalue people’s property because it “robs them of their potential of dividing. Nobody is forcing anybody to divide, but the potential to divide makes your property worth so much more.”

“The common refrain I keep hearing is we don’t want a Rutherford County,” Northcutt said, “…but we have to get to Tullahoma before we can be like Murfreesboro.”

Northcutt said he will be lobbying the county commission to vote no on the proposed 180-day moratorium on new subdivisions in areas zoned A-1 agricultural and on the changes to the zoning resolutions or to postpone the vote.

“This affects everybody – the framer, the plumber, the surveyor, the engineer, the gravel guy,” he said. Getting some good growth in the county will eventually result in getting better amenities in Manchester. The same people hollering they don’t want growth are also saying they want a good grocery store or a movie theater.”

Aldermen respond

Several on the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen shared some of the concerns voiced by Northcutt.

“I have concerns as a county citizen and a county taxpayer myself,” said Alderman Thomas Crosslin. “I think this centers around the rights of a landowner.”

Alderman Ryan French said the two municipalities need to be brought into the discussion due to the impact that the changes could have on the cities.

“The recognition that it will drive growth to the municipalities is debatable,” French said. “If that is the case, we have a UGB (Urban Growth Boundary) that was founded around a certain set of rules, now we’re changing those rules. The actions of the County Commission are in fact an accelerator to the growth in the UGB, without question. At the very minimum it’s a conversation to have about the UGB.”

French pushed that the city’s letter to the county include a request to open a joint discussion about opening the UGB.

“If you are going to do something this impactful,” French said. “It needs to be vetted by all sides including both municipalities. There is going to be ramifications, and we don’t have a say in it.”

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.