The question of whether a heavy haul trucking company will be allowed to locate on Cheatham Springs Road remained unresolved as of Friday after Eagleville’s state-contracted planner said last week that the proposed use does not meet the property’s zoning.

Bent Tree Transport Inc. owners have sold their trucking company site in Brentwood and want to move their business to a 3.6-acre parcel west of Clark Lane that is zoned general commercial or C-2. They are proposing to build a new bridge across Cheatham Branch so the access to the property will be from Cheatham Springs Road.

In a telephone interview Friday, trucking company owner Jim Peach alleged that the city’s contract planner, Bo Logan, had said the trucking company’s proposed operation met the criteria for a C-2 zone when company officials first contacted him in February.

"I talked to him personally on the phone and he said it fits, it will work, and what you need to do is come to the (planning commission) meeting on the first Monday in March," Peach said. "After he told me it would fit, I went ahead and put a contract on that property and put my earnest money down."

Peach said company officials had found the Cheatham Springs Road property on the Internet in February and when they visited the property they saw that "it had all the utilities and everything we needed right on the site."

At the March planning commission meeting, Logan commented he believed the zoning for the proposed trucking use was already in place.

"C-2 -- so that is not an issue, and as far as use of the land they will have some office use and some trailers parked there," Logan said. "So wholesale sales of consumer goods is how it is worded, so that is going to cover that in a broad category."

Logan also noted that the C-2 district has 26 listed uses and added, "There are a lot of things that C-2 allows."

Peach said that after the March meeting he had the proposed site surveyed and had percolation tests done.

"I spent close to $10,000 to get up what (the city) wanted," he said.

The zoning questions arose when staff members at the local planning division of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TDECD), where Logan works, said that Bent Tree’s requested use is more appropriate for an industrially-zoned parcel of land rather than for C-2.

The TDECD staff’s written comments were submitted prior to the April planning commission meeting, at which Logan, whose father is seriously ill, was absent.

"The applicant (Bent Tree) has disclosed that they operate trucks that haul ‘heavy equipment’ and ‘machinery,’ as well as other types of freight," the staff comments read. "Often, this freight is carried long distances and it appears that the Eagleville site would be a centrally located facility for the applicant to store trucks and trailers."

The staff’s findings said that the company’s requested use does not satisfy the intent of the C-2 district, as outlined in the zoning ordinance, because the district is "designed to provide adequate space for uses which serve the needs of the motoring public."

The motoring public means people who drive to the C-2 district to patronize establishments located there, and Bent Tree would not be serving the needs of this motoring public, the staff comments said.

Also, the zoning ordinance states that commercial trade and service uses are permitted in the C-2 district if necessary to serve the recurring needs of people frequenting the district.

"This means that businesses located in C-2 areas should serve the local residents of Eagleville and surrounding areas, as these are the only people who would truly frequent the area," according to the staff comments.

The staff determined that the nature of the business of Bent Tree, "especially that they are a freight hauler of long distances and many times serve the needs of persons located far from Eagleville," would not satisfy the Eagleville zoning ordinance requirements for a C-2 district.

The staff also discussed other uses allowed in the C-2 zone and commented that those uses, including wholesale sales of consumer goods that Logan had suggested, did not apply because the trucking company provides a service and does not sell physical goods. Also, it does not meet the definition of a mini-storage as allowed in a C-2 district.

Further, the planning staff advised that the denial of the applicant’s stated use for the property shall not be referred to the Eagleville Board of Zoning Appeals, because the applicant’s request "does not meet the required conditions for any special exception in the C-2 district."

Bent Tree officials, who along with some supporters were also at the April 4 meeting, said they had been told the C-2 zoning is proper and "therefore the issue of zoning is not an issue for us." They added the company just needs approval for the building plan it has proposed.

Planning Commission Secretary Harold Vincion responded that the issue cannot be clarified until the matter is discussed further with the state planner.

"I thought we had all bases covered," Vincion said. "His (Logan’s) supervisors read it a different way."

Vincion, who is also a city councilman, said he is not against a trucking company coming in because he has spent years working in the industry. He suggested that the city can call a special meeting if needed to discuss the trucking company matter.

"We just want to get all the facts in to make a decision and to do what is best for Eagleville," Nick Duke, planning commission chairman, said.

Peach suggested in the telephone interview on Friday that his company’s use would fit under the C-2’s "general business and communications" category as outlined in the zoning ordinance.

He also said his company does business with local companies, including ones in the Eagleville area, Unionville, Chapel Hill, Columbia, Franklin and Murfreesboro.

Peach said he and his wife have found property on Newtown Road in the Versailles area to buy but have delayed putting a contract on it until the issues over his request are resolved.