Rutherford County Planning Commission delays decision on special-exception request for noncommercial storage structure

The Rutherford County Planning Commission on Monday postponed action on a special-exception request to allow a noncommercial personal storage structure at 39 D. Hall's Hill Pike, saying the applicant must supply verifiable proof about the site’s ability to support a septic system.

Commission staff presented Application 2025-4, describing the property as in the RM zoning district and identifying two existing structures on the site. Staff said one of the structures is a bona fide agricultural building used for horses and that the structure under consideration is a fully enclosed storage building the applicant describes as 1,870 square feet. Staff said the application otherwise met size and acreage limitations for the request but lacked “a letter from a soil scientist or denial from TDEC” showing that a septic system could not be established on the lot, which is required because no principal residence exists on the property.

Tanya, a county code enforcement officer, told the commission the department received a December complaint about an occupied recreational vehicle on the property and that the occupant and the related dog-boarding activity have been removed. Tanya said that after those issues were addressed, the remaining issue was the accessory structure on a lot without a primary residence.

Brad Stevens, an attorney with McCarter East representing property owner Archie Avant, said the structures were installed by a prior tenant, that his client purchased the property after the buildings were in place, and that Mr. Avant intends light agricultural uses in retirement (chickens, possibly honeybees) and to use the storage building for personal equipment such as a lawnmower or small tractor. Stevens said his client believes a percolation test was performed previously but that he did not have the paperwork on hand and would obtain documentation if needed.

Planning Commissioner Gary Farley moved to postpone the application 30 days to allow the applicant to obtain and submit documentation from a soil scientist or other verifying evidence that the site cannot support a septic system. "I'd like to postpone this 30 days and give them a chance to get the documents that they need to bring back to this," Farley said. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously by roll call: Mike Curtis, Amber Brown, Jerry Sartain, Gary Farley, Renee Curtis and Zane Cantrell voting yes.

The commission’s action defers a final decision; staff said the application will return to the commission once the applicant supplies the requested documentation and that additional time would likely be allowed if the applicant needed it. No changes to the structures themselves were approved or denied at the meeting.

The commission’s packet and staff presentation referenced the property as being on Hawesville Pike and as 39 D. Hall's Hill Pike; staff identified the zoning as RM and cited county accessory-structure rules in connection with lots that lack a principal residence. The department also referenced the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in describing the type of documentation that would satisfy the septic/percolation requirement.