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Resident urges limits on temporary-dwelling permits, calls for county noise rules
Summary
At a Cheatham County workshop, a resident described long-standing hardship tied to a neighboring temporary dwelling, urged time limits and hookups for temporary units and asked the commission to consider a countywide noise ordinance to address generator and nuisance noise.
An unidentified resident who spoke during the public-forum portion of the Cheatham County workshop in December urged the commission to tighten rules for temporary-dwelling permits and to adopt a noise ordinance for the unincorporated county.
The speaker said a neighbor had been issued a temporary-dwelling permit for a hardship that occurred seven years earlier, and called that interval ‘‘too long’’ to justify issuance without an explicit time limit. The resident proposed that the county impose an emergency or issuance period limiting how long a hardship may predate a permit and require that electric service and an approved septic connection be established when a temporary unit is occupied.
"She's relying on the generator for primary power," the resident said, describing persistent nighttime noise that has disrupted sleep and urging a rule requiring permanent hookups when people are living in temporary units.
Planning staff and commissioners discussed enforcement and inspection history later in the meeting. County staff reported that Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and local code staff had inspected one contested Valley View site and found no violations at the time; a septic connection was reported as being completed "within a day or two" from the inspection. Commissioners said they could consider written amendments to the zoning rules that would add time limits and stronger service requirements for temporary permits.
Proponents of stronger rules said the changes would protect neighbors from noise and from living situations that effectively rely on generators. Several commissioners acknowledged that the county currently lacks a general noise ordinance that would apply across unincorporated areas and suggested the commission could study whether such an ordinance is appropriate.
Next steps: commissioners asked staff to look into clearer time-limit language and enforcement options and to return recommendations to the commission for possible adoption.
