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Commission to rescind local burn permit in favor of state system; quarry concern at Starlight addressed
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Summary
Commissioners discussed an ordinance to rescind the county burn permit and rely on Tennessee Division of Forestry permits (proposal to take effect Oct. 15); planning and TDEC staff said a proposed quarry at Starlight failed to obtain clean-water permits and the company withdrew its application.
Chair presented ordinance 3 45 20 26 0 7 to rescind the county’s current burn restrictions and instead rely on the Tennessee Division of Forestry’s permit system.
Commissioner David said emergency services and codes worked on a burn-permit approach for more than a year and that moving to the state system would simplify permitting and enforcement: residents would obtain permits through the state forestry system. Several commissioners asked that the effective date be changed to Oct. 15 so the county’s effective period matches the state’s October 15–May 15 permit window; planning and committee votes had already adopted that change and staff said it should be corrected in the ordinance before the next meeting.
During other business, commissioners and planning staff addressed constituent concerns about a proposed quarry near Starlight. Planning staff said TDEC denied the company’s clean-water permit application twice and the company subsequently withdrew its application; staff said the county code and recent combined zoning leave no mechanism to place a quarry on agricultural land without rezoning and that the state controls permitting for borrow pits tied to highway construction.
No formal votes were taken during the work session; staff will correct the effective-date language in the burn-permit draft and return the ordinance for formal consideration.
