Bible Park fails key vote in Wilson County on The Murfreesboro Post

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Bible Park fails key vote in Wilson County

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 1:40 pm

The future of Bible Park USA is in question after the Wilson County Commission failed to approve a proposal for Tax Increment Financing at its Monday night meeting.

Wilson County Mayor Robert Dedman said the vote failed to get the required two-thirds majority with the absence of two commissioners Monday night.

“If they would have been there, it would have passed the way it did last month,” Dedman said. Because the vote involves taxes, the proposal has to pass two consecutive meetings with a two-thirds majority and the 16-7 vote didn’t meet the threshold, he added.

The proposal, which passed on first reading in November, would allow the park to repay $60 million in bonds with incremental increases in property taxes and a 5 percent privileged tax on sales in the park.

“I’m frankly surprised the city would vote this way since I’ve seen a lot of support in the community for it,” project developer Robert Wyatt told the Nashville Post. “Potentially this project has a huge amount of capability for bringing lots of jobs and lots of business to Lebanon in this economic time.”

But not all Wilson County Commissioners were convinced. Dedman said today’s economic conditions have much to do with the park’s eroding support.

“We had a lot of support for it but some commissioners didn’t vote for it because they didn’t want the county to be responsible for any debt,” Dedman said.

BPU Holdings can bring the proposal back for a vote in January but it would have to pass again in February to be approved.

Wyatt said the company might consider bringing it up again next month or pursue other sites.

Bible Park USA has been relocated previously after Rutherford County’s Board of Commissioners rejected the park’s TIF plans in May.

Approval required a two-thirds majority vote after a valid petition from surrounding landowners was submitted to the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission. The vote fell two votes short of the 14 needed with 12 voting in favor and nine voting against.

Following the rejection from Rutherford County, BPU Holdings announced in September the intention to locate the $175 million-200 million, Biblically themed park on 113 acres off Tater Peeler Road in Lebanon.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.

Tagged under BPU

Member Opinions:

By: Farmall on 12/17/08
Did I read that right, increase property taxes for this so called park. No wonder they didn't get their vote. Like someone would want to raise their own taxes to bring an eyesore into their community.

By: lightchick on 12/18/08
I guess the folks of Wilson County are smarter than Mr. Bartur thought!!!

By: spanky on 12/20/08
Stay tuned next week for the ongoing saga of, " the wandering bible park " Only in America can someone try and push an eyesore and tax burden off on us.

By: stevent on 12/25/08
anyone who says that the bible park had a lot of support in wilson county is lying. the majority of citizens who have publically commented have been opposed to this park both for religious and financial reasons. the only support it has had has been from a few restaurant owners and others who want to make money.ex-mayor don fox only wanted it to use as a vote getter when he runs for county mayor in 2010.the promoters first park, the hard rock park went bankrupt in only 4 months and this turkey would go down even faster. bar tur and his company are just con men who will make millions on the front end through commissions on the bond sales and lose nothing when it fails, just like they did in myrtle beach, where the bankrupt HRP has left bondholders on the hook for 255 million in now worthless bonds.for a full listing of articles on the fight against this unholy park in wilson county go to www.watchforchristtn.org