T he Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will hold a public hearing March 24 at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza concerning the NPDES permit for Waterson Farm Lakes project in Beech Grove.

Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt instructed County Attorney Mark Williams to send a written request to TDEC asking for a public hearing on Jan. 5.

The controversial project, according to the TDEC permit application, was submitted for the excavation of two lakes to provide a water source for livestock. Each of the two 6-acre lakes have the stated purpose of providing water for livestock, recreational purposes and potentially for irrigation.

Critics of the project suggest that the manufacturing and sale of crushed limestone from the excavation of the site and a limestone crushing facility to process the rock onsite is a workaround for a quarry that is prohibited by county zoning restrictions in that zone.

The purpose of the hearing is to gather information from the public relevant to a final decision on the permit application.

TDEC warns that comments not related to water quality or to the information contained in the permit application will not be considered in the decision-making process. TDEC said that issues such as “air quality, zoning, blasting, noise, dust and traffic are not related to water quality and are not regulated by the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources” and would “not contribute relevant information for the proposed permit.”

The hearing will be held at the Coffee County Administrative Plaza, 1329 McArthur St. with a 5 p.m. information session and a 6 p.m. public hearing.

Hunt urged all interested parties to attend this hearing and follow the strict guidelines regarding the subject matter of their comments.

The meeting will be video teleconferenced, and can be attended online, by phone or in person.

For information or to view the application permit, go to https:// dataviewers.tdec. tn.gov/dataviewers/r/ tdec_ reports/ f11776/ permit-search.