City of Tullahoma suing its own alderman over codes noncompliance

TULLAHOMA, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Middle Tennessee city is suing one of its own elected officials over what it calls “violations of city ordinances.”

The City of Tullahoma filed suit against Jenna Amacher, who serves as an alderman for the city, in an attempt to get her to comply with city codes for a residence she is building on Ledford Mill Road.

According to the complaint, filed in Coffee County Chancery Court, the city wants a declaratory judgment stating Amacher must comply with all city ordinances and building codes if she is to reside in the home she is building on the outskirts of town.

The root of the complaint comes from land on Ledford Mill Road Amacher purchased in 2021. The property in question is zoned residential per the Tullahoma zoning map, and Amacher stated her intention to build a single-family home on it. However, it is also eligible for taxation under the Agricultural, Forest and Open Space Land Act of 1976, more commonly known as the “Greenbelt Law.”

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According to the city, the Greenbelt Law was enacted to “incentivize the retention of green spaces around urban development by providing certain tax incentives to property owners who qualify.” Amacher’s property qualifies under that statute.

According to country property records, the Greenbelt application was granted in August of 2021.

However, the city claims the Greenbelt Law is only for tax purposes, not a zoning statute. The city’s own zoning ordinances still apply, the city says in the suit, and Amacher’s property is zoned R-1 residential.

In order to build her home, Amacher was required to obtain building permits and comply with codes inspections, including a fire inspection, and submit a site plan for the home.

According to the suit, Amacher declined to provide a site plan, stating it wasn’t required for agricultural property, but she applied for the building permit and a stormwater permit in October 2022.

During a subsequent inspection by the Tullahoma Fire Department, Amacher was informed that she would be required to install a fire hydrant within 600 feet of her property. Per the suit, the hydrant was required in order to ensure the fire department had “a proper water source” should she have a fire.

Amacher again claimed such requirement was unnecessary due to her property being agricultural.

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Fire Chief Kenneth Pearson then reportedly offered Amacher two alternatives to installing a fire hydrant: put a sprinkler system in her home or dig a retention pond on her property. Amacher agreed to install a sprinkler system, the suit claims.

According to the complaint, Amacher’s building permit expired in May of 2023, and she was asked to request a new one from the Codes department. However, the city claims Amacher said she would not do so, asserting again that her property was agricultural and not subject to city codes. She also reportedly told city officials she would need to be sued in order to comply with the codes.

“The single-family residence being built on the Property is a residence that must comply with the Building and Fire Codes and related Ordinances for residences in areas zoned R-1 and is not exempted from compliance due to an agricultural exemption of any other exemption,” the city states in the complaint.

The city also feels Amacher’s position as an elected official makes the matter more complicated and it wants to avoid the appearance of favoritism, according to the suit.

“Given Ms. Amacher’s position as an alderman who sits on the Board that reviews and passes the ordinances in the Municipal Code, the City’s nonaction to correct her interpretation of the regulations and enforce the ordinances properly could set a precedent that property owners within the City could use to bypass applicable Codes, which would negatively impact the City’s growth and resources,” the complaint reads. “The City’s inaction, if it remained idle, could appear as preferential treatment due to Ms. Amacher’s position as an alderman.”

Click HERE to read the full verified complaint against Tullahoma Alderman Jenna Amacher

The city asks the court to declare the property is residential and thus subject to all city codes, ordinances and regulations.

Amacher spoke up for herself at the most recent city meeting, held Monday, March 25. During the public comment portion of the meeting, she said no one could force a citizen to install a sprinkler system in a residential, single-story house on 20 acres of farmland “merely because it’s on 20 acres of farmland. That would be a violation of agricultural exemption laws.”

“I’m not developing. I live on a farm, and there are agricultural exemptions,” she said.

City Administrator Jason Quick said following Amacher’s comment that the board “fully understands” the reason for the lawsuit and stressed that the lawsuit is a simple request for a ruling on the rules.

“We’re not seeking damages; we’re seeking for a judge to acknowledge, one way or the other, as to what codes should be followed by this property, so that that way, moving forward, we’ll be able to know how to best enforce those for future uses,” he said.

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Attorney Brittany Hoskins said the property was only taxed as agricultural and “taxing purposes and zoning purposes are two different things.”

“It is zoned residential, which means that it must comply with residences that are built in R-1 areas,” she said. “We have a citizen who is refusing to comply with that, a citizen who we have worked with for quite some time trying to ensure compliance, and a citizen who blatantly said, ‘I’ll have to be sued in order for me to comply with codes.’ So that is what’s happened here.”

Hoskins, who works for the firm who represents the city in legal matters locally, advised they had a conflict of interest, so outside counsel has been retained for this matter.

According to the Coffee County Chancery Court, service of process was not complete as of Monday, March 25. Amacher has not yet filed a response to the complaint brought by the city, they told News 2.

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