JOHN COFFELTEditor

What is being called an outdated ordinance, one that potentially limits a majority of landowners in the county from dividing their land is being challenged by the Coffee County Planning Commission.

For the areas in the county with limited fire hydrant water flow, an estimated 50%, longstanding county zoning ordinances double the side setback from 25 ft. to 50 ft.

“What we’re doing here is ludicrous,” Planning member Dennis Hunt said concerning the fire flow restriction.

Hunt said that in his research on the issue, the state fire marshal will grant a certificate of occupancy with a 10-foot setback.

“There’s no other county in the state of Tennessee (that requires) a 50 ft. side yard,” Hunt said.

Local surveyor Nicholas Northcutt called the restrictions a major hardship on landowners.

“There is no other county around that does this,” Northcutt said. “It is extremely restrictive on simply trying to divide property.”

Northcutt said he currently has five clients who are impacted by the restriction.

One of those clients is trying to purchase the family farm after the death of a parent, but cannot afford the property with the house attached, but dividing the property is prohibited because of the setbacks needed for a house and mobile home located on the frontage area, he said.

“If you are going to do one acre lots and you’re not close enough to a hydrant…you would have to have 150 foot wide lot just to get a 100 foot building envelope,” Northcutt said, adding that it just doesn’t allow county developments competitive with the cities. “That’s two-thirds of your property that you can’t do anything with.”

Commissioner Tim Brown, who is not a member of the Planning Commission, said during the meeting

that he can’t divide his farm for his heirs because of the restrictions.

Planning Commissioner Rodney Duncan, a 25-year firefighter in Tullahoma, called the 100 feet created by two adjacent 50 foot setbacks excessive.

Current county zoning ordinances allow for residential homes to be built with 25 ft. side setbacks, creating a minimum of 50 ft. between a structure and the neighbors, unless that home is located in an area with low hydrant water flow. In those areas that setback is doubled.

“In the county (in residential zones the setback) is 50 ft. in the front, 25 ft. in the sides and rear if you have a hydrant within a mile that meets minimum flow,” Codes Director Kirt Gray said. “If it does not it’s 50 ft. (on all sides).”

Northcutt said even being able to tell someone whether or not it is possible to divide their property is problematic.

“Right now if someone calls and wants to carve off an acre for junior to build on, I can’t even tell them if it’s possible,” he said.

In order to do so, Northcutt would have to check which district they are in, what size line accesses the property and determine if it has fire flow and where the closest hydrant is located.

“In West Warren (Utility District), they charge $150 or $200 to do a flow test,” Northcutt said. “You can’t even find out if it’s even possible to divide your acre without spending $150 dollars.”

Rutherford County Fire Chief Larry Farley told commissioners by phone that 50 feet (provided by two adjacent 25 ft. setbacks) would provide adequate fire protection. He said a fire could spread 25 ft. to a neighboring home, but at “50 ft. if a house is on fire it would most likely melt the vinyl siding and eves, but it won’t be enough to ignite the under board up under it,” Farley said.

Planning Commissioner Randy Harrell approached Farley in researching the fire safety aspect of the ordinance.

Hydrant flow insufficient

Gray said that proximity to a fire hydrant does not guarantee adequate fire flow.

“You could have a hydrant in your front yard and still not have fire flow,” he said.

To meet fire flow requirements, 500 gallons per minute or 20 psi at the hydrant is needed. However, the lines in much of rural Coffee County were designed to provide drinking water rather than fire protection.

According to recent discussions during Health, Welfare and Recreation Commission meetings, many of the lines in the county are four-inch lines and others are two-inch lines.

HWR Commissioner Jimmy Hollandsworth said that less than 50 percent of the county has adequate fire flow.

One area that struggles with adequate fire flow is the Hillsboro area.

According to Fire Chief Brandon Gunn, the Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Department Fire coverage area has 32 fire hydrants, yet 17 of those don’t have adequate flow.

“That’s kind of a problem,” Gunn said. “The Water Department doesn’t want us to use them, and they don’t meet fire codes.”

Gunn said that in the event of a fire, he will use the hydrants.

“I can get water out of it, just at a slower rate,” he said.

Rural firefighting differs from its city counterpart in that rural fire departments have to tank in water to fight a fire while city departments with nearby hydrants, can usually simply run hoses and pump water.

Gunn said that there are two hydrants on Asbury Road. One is in the parking lot of the New Life Church. Neither have adequate water flow.

“If we have a house fire going toward Viola, we have to come all the way back into Hillsboro to the school, Brothers Implement, to get water,” he said. “That’s a long turnaround.”

“It’s a challenge sometime keeping water,” Gunn added.

Gunn said fire chiefs understand that the purpose of running water lines is for potable drinking water, not fire hydrants.

“If we get a fire hydrant out of it great,” he said. “I don’t know how they make the determination of what (area) gets what size line but sometimes they run two-inch lines, sometimes four-inch and sometimes it’s six-inch.”

Gunn said a two-inch line will not be sufficient in supplying a fire hydrant.

“It doesn’t seem as a county we have a standard for what we run,” he said.

According to the county codes department, “Minimum Fire Flow shall mean a five-hundred gallon per minute (500gpm) water flow calculated at a twenty pound per square inch (20 PSI) residual pressure delivered from a water line that is six inches or greater in diameter.”

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.