Planning commission recommends PUD for Barrett Firearms site with limits on certain truck and automotive uses

Rutherford County planning commissioners on April 2025 recommended approval of a planned-unit-development (PUD) rezoning to allow construction of a Barrett Firearms manufacturing and corporate campus on a roughly 171-acre tract along Manchester Pike, subject to staff comments and a narrow set of use exclusions agreed at the hearing.

The PUD application, filed by Hamilton Development and applicant Barrett Firearms, asks to rezone the property from residential medium-density (RM) to a PUD allowing an initial phase consisting of a light manufacturing/assembly building (about 273,240 square feet) with employee parking and a graded expansion pad for future growth. Applicant materials describe the project as primarily light industrial with restricted uses modeled on the county’s light industrial district; the pattern book makes future expansions subject to separate PUD amendments.

Company officials said the site would permit consolidation of Barrett operations currently located nearby and would create additional local jobs and training partnerships. CEO Brian James described Barrett’s history in the county and its workforce partnerships, saying the firm has expanded under multiple contracts with U.S. military and international partners and that the new site would support further growth. “We are the selected primary, rifle of choice for precision rifles for the U.S. military and have been since 1990,” James told the commission.

The applicant team described a traffic plan and coordination with the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The project’s traffic study, reviewed by the county’s consultant, recommends signalization at the Manchester Pike–Epps Mill Road intersection; the applicant and planning staff said TDOT lists related corridor improvements in its 10-year plan with a 2026 start date. The civil engineer on the project said anticipated truck traffic is modest — roughly one tractor-trailer per week to start — and that a single secured driveway would be used; emergency access would be provided separately.

The applicant committed to preserving stream buffers and identified existing wetlands to be retained. Staff and the applicant described stormwater management plans, including extended-detention features to meet pre-development flow rates and water-quality treatment. The pattern book shows a type-3 buffer and a berm (up to 20 feet) along the properties that face Cobb Road; staff said those buffers and berms would be required as part of site-plan review.

Residents at a lengthy public hearing raised concerns about traffic, noise from testing ranges, lighting, water runoff, impacts on private wells and potential effects on property values. The applicant and staff addressed those concerns point-by-point during the hearing: county staff noted that testing ranges at Barrett’s existing site have not generated recorded noise complaints; the applicant said range operations are enclosed and that safety and security measures are regulated by federal authorities and by the company’s third-party security reviews.

During deliberation the commission agreed to a staff-recommended approval but amended the permitted-use list to remove the “truck and motor freight terminal and service facility” use and several automobile-related manufacturing uses that commissioners said could attract higher truck volumes. The applicant’s team accepted the change on the record. Commissioners also discussed the PUD process: expansions beyond the approved phase 1 area would require separate PUD amendments and public hearings.

The commission’s recommendation will be transmitted to the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners for final action on May 15, 2025. If approved by the county commission, the project must still clear engineered site-plan review, permitting and coordination with TDOT for driveway and signal improvements before construction.