At a Tazewell County zoning hearing, Sydney and Ben French asked the county for a special-use permit to operate a wedding and banquet venue at 18825 Tannen Road in Deer Creek Township. Land-use staff reported the proposal would add a small 15-foot addition to an existing event building for restrooms and a bridal suite, and recommended approval with conditions; neighbors and the township road commissioner urged caution over traffic, noise and safety.

Land-use staff told the zoning board the site is primarily agricultural, the nearest residence is about a quarter mile south and the event building sits more than 500 feet from Tannen Road. The staff report said the proposed events would be limited to Fridays and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. and that public health and building requirements, including septic, well and food permits, could apply. The staff recommendation stated it “supports approval of this application” subject to compliance with health department and building-code requirements.

“The visual appearance of it and everything from my kitchen window view, which we'll be facing in the venue, matters so much,” Sydney French, an applicant and the property owner, told the board. The applicants said the venue would start small, expect up to about 150 guests with a dance floor inside and could reach about 200 guests if the dance area moved outdoors. They said parking plans show roughly 70 marked spots, including accessible spaces, and that on-site gravel and yard areas could be used for additional parking. The applicants said they are pursuing a liquor license and dram-shop insurance and plan to encourage shuttle service for guests.

Neighbors cited multiple concerns. Tony Knoll, a nearby resident, said, “Our road is deteriorating quite a bit,” and described narrow shoulders, limited shoulders for farm equipment and existing trash in ditches. Knoll and others said they worry about increased traffic from guests and vendors, people unfamiliar with narrow rural roads, and incidents involving impaired drivers. Lee Tanner and Nanette Tanner, whose homes lie closer to the proposed venue, told the board they can hear activity from the French property now and worry amplified music and weekend crowds will increase noise and light at their homes. Nanette Tanner said she was not sent formal notice on time and that the change would affect a family farm that has been in place for generations.

Corey Wigan, the Deer Creek Township road commissioner, described Tannen Road as a tar-and-chip road with an aggregate base and said it received a resurfacing within the past five to six years. Wigan said ditches along the route are generally shallow and consistent and that the township has limited budget but can install traffic signs; he noted stop signs would require involvement from the county engineer. “If this gets approved, that would be one thing that I would… get him involved with,” Wigan said when asked about intersection controls.

Board members and staff asked the applicants about traffic patterns and operations. The applicants said they plan to limit operation seasonally (applicants indicated April or May through October), restrict events to Friday and Saturday evenings, and enforce a noise curfew consistent with the county noise ordinance. The applicants said they would require vendors to meet their standards, clean the site after events, and would work with law enforcement and shuttle providers to reduce impaired driving and off-site parking.

Land-use staff noted that final approval of the venue’s operation would be contingent on meeting life-safety, health-department and county building-code requirements; if the board or staff impose a condition restricting months or hours, the applicants would need to return to request an amendment. The transcript contains no recorded motion or final vote by the zoning board on the application.

With the record left open for deliberation and no formal board action recorded in the provided transcript, the next procedural steps would be a zoning-board decision or a return appearance if conditions are imposed requiring amendment. The transcript does not show a final decision.