Planning commission tables Epsill Road rezoning after neighbors cite floodplain impacts and alleged unpermitted work

The Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission on April 13 voted to table a rezoning and planned-development request for part of a 31.5-acre tract on Epsill Road after residents raised concerns about prior unpermitted grading and fill in a mapped floodplain and questioned whether the county was being asked to retroactively ratify existing site work.

Staff told commissioners that it had issued a stop-work order after receiving a complaint about fill material and equipment storage on the site and that the applicant later obtained a land-disturbance permit. Staff described the current request as a PUD for approximately 11 acres of the parcel, with existing buildings to remain and a proposed gravel storage yard for equipment and materials. Staff emphasized that engineered site plans, landscaping and buffering would be required if the rezoning were approved.

Several neighbors urged denial. Nathan Lux, who lives adjacent to the site, presented photos and county GIS maps he said showed fill and grading in the Stones River floodplain, and he asked whether state and federal aquatic-resource permits had been sought before the work. He said the current proposal "looks like retroactive approval" because some of the work already exists. Other neighbors cited truck traffic, noise, dust and the loss of rural character.

The applicant's representative, Matt Taylor (SEC), acknowledged prior work on the property and said the applicant would perform required reclamation, topographic surveys and site-by-site measures as part of the site-plan process. Commissioners asked staff and the applicant to obtain current aerial imagery, a full topo and pre-development survey and to consult highway and fire officials about road impacts and water/fire protection. The commission moved to table the item until the next monthly meeting to allow that additional information to be gathered; the motion carried on a roll call in which one commissioner abstained.