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Committee moves to refer proposed ordinance to give BurnSafe TN authority over urban burn permits
Summary
A draft ordinance would rescind local open-burning restrictions in the urban services district and default issuance and enforcement of burn permits and burn bans to the state forestry program (BurnSafe TN); a motion was made to send the ordinance to codes and zoning with a favorable recommendation and a revised effective date, but no recorded roll-call vote appears in the transcript.
The committee considered a draft ordinance to rescind local open-burning restrictions in the urban services district and allow the state forestry service (via the BurnSafe TN web system) to handle burn-permit issuance and burn bans.
An agency official presented the proposal and said rescinding local restrictions would place the urban services district on the same state-administered online permit system the rest of the county uses; he noted the county pays BurnSafe TN about $1,000 per year to participate. "If we rescind any ordinance inside the urban services, TN Burn Safe will then take over all of our burn permits even inside the old city limits," the official said.
Committee members asked whether county regulations would remain in place and whether terms used in the draft (for example, the 500-foot buffer around forests, grasslands or woodlands) are defined; the official confirmed the statewide seasonal period is Oct. 15 through May 15 and said Forestry prefers the effective date be in October to allow time to set up its web system.
A committee member moved to send the ordinance to codes and zoning with a favorable recommendation and with the effective-date change discussed in the meeting; the motion was recorded but the transcript shows no roll-call or final outcome. The draft will go to codes and zoning for further review before any ordinance change takes effect.
