Sheltons get their day in court, Bible Park trial begins on The Murfreesboro Post

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Sheltons get their day in court, Bible Park trial begins

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Thursday, October 2, 2008 2:57 pm

Waiting for the trial to begin in Shelton v. Rutherford County, family spokesman Steve Shelton remembered a time when he was in Iraq visiting on business.

Shelton is a colonel in the U.S. Army and works as a defense contractor.

While driving through the war-torn country, Shelton’s vehicle has set upon by a sniper. Shelton hunkered down in the vehicle as the gunman fired at will upon the caravan. Luckily no one was injured.

“If he would’ve just picked a spot and shot at the same place, the bullet proof glass would’ve given way,” Shelton said. But the sniper just shot with no aim in particular until he had no bullets left.

The same could be said about Shelton’s presentation Wednesday in the suit against Rutherford County challenging the county’s denial of a rezoning request by BPU Holdings, LLC for the development of Bible Park USA. The Shelton family, who owns the majority of the 240 acres optioned by BPU Holdings, filed suit in June.

Shelton attorney Taylor Harris listed 13 arguments why the county’s denial of the theme park should be thrown out. He reasoned everything from a due process violation in the county’s zoning resolution to improper behavior by the county attorney.

“This case is not about the Bible Park or whether it is a good idea or a bad idea, …” Harris said.

“This is about transparency in government. This is about due process. …” Harris continued. “It is about doing the right thing for the citizens of this county.”

Dewees Berry, representing the county, attempted to dodge some of Harris’ bullets but others he let fly.

“Mr. Harris has thrown out a number of things, but the county contends it boils down to just two things,” Berry said. Those two things were: the challenge to Section 4.05 of the county’s zoning resolution and were the protest petitions validated correctly.

Harris’ key points were: Section 4.05 of the Rutherford County Zoning Resolution is illegal because it violates the constitution, since it has no due process clause, and state law because it relies too heavily on public opinion.

According to Section 4.05 of the Rutherford County Zoning Resolution, if 20 percent of surrounding landowners submit notarized petitions opposing development, then the proposed development requires a two-thirds majority vote for approval, instead of a simple majority like in all other zoning requests.

Harris also argued Cope overstepped the bounds of his job by ruling a landowner petition against the proposed park was valid.

In the days leading up to the May 15 county commission vote on the rezoning request, Cope, along with Regional Planning Commission staff, reviewed 27 petitions submitted by surrounding landowners in opposition to the development of the park.

“These people have as much right to have their voices heard as the Sheltons,” Berry said.

County Planning Director Doug Demosi verified the deeds and found 80 owners of the property surrounding the Shelton property, meaning 16 signatures were needed to force a two-thirds majority.

Cope advised 18 petitions were valid. As a result, the park’s rezoning and conditional-use permit request required a two-thirds majority from the full commission. During its May 15, the commission voted 12-9 to approval meeting, which fell short of approval by two votes.

Harris contended at least three of the approved petitions should be discounted.

One was a petition submitted by James Mullins, who lives on Florence Road. A few days before the vote, Mullins sent a request to the planning commission to remove his petition, but it was kept in.

Two other petitions from property abutting the Sheltons should have been discounted, Harris contended, because they were filled out improperly. The petitions state the owners’ property is adjacent to land owned by G.E. and Kathleen Lowe, when in fact it shares about ten feet of property line with the Sheltons.

Harris argues without these three petitions, only 15 are valid and therefore the two-thirds majority vote is unnecessary and the rezoning request only required a simple majority or 11 votes to pass.

The parties have until Friday to file briefs in response to Wednesday’s arguments.

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

Tagged under BPU, RUCO

Member Opinions:

By: uknuckle on 10/2/08
Shelton needs to ask Hillary Clinton about using them sniper fire stories.

By: Macgyver on 10/2/08
I'm sorry what does the sniper story have to do with rutherford county property rights?