Body Farm Zoning Decision Draws Suit

A proposed cadaver research area that is slotted for Jefferson County is the issue of contention in a recently filed law suit. Doris Ligon dba Highland Oak Farms has filed suit against the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Appeals for their December 18th 2012 decision to place “body farms” as approved usage in A-1 zoning in the County. Because so few of these research areas are in existence, the issue of zoning and any regulations that may be initiated in the future are precedent setting. Tim Seals, Director of the Jefferson County Zoning Office, referred the issue of zoning for the proposed research area to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Art Bohanan, a resident of Jefferson County, donated the usage of a portion of his property to Carson-Newman College for research on the environmental impact of human and animal decomposition. The Environmental Decomposition site has no counterpart from which the Jefferson County Zoning Office can draw information. Seals researched the issue and made the determination that it would first need to be addressed by the Board of Zoning Appeals. The charge of the BZA is to determine what zoning area a request is categorized to, not to determine the viability of that request, according to Seals. The BZA determined that the cadaver research site most closely fit with A-1 zoning, which includes cemeteries and other County educational facilities. The suit filed last week contends that one member of the BZA was pressured into voting, rather than abstaining. Had the BZA member abstained, the vote to place the cadaver research area in A-1 would have failed in a tie vote. In a review of the minutes of the meeting, Ms. Springfield, the abstaining member, withdrew her abstention after she was informed by the County attorney that her abstention could stand. Questions regarding a committee member’s ability to abstain without having personal interest in the issue prompted consultation with the County attorney. The determination of the vote held pending the opinion of the attorney. Ms. Springfield elected to vote in favor of the A-1 zoning after being informed that she did have the option of abstention. Tim Seals stated last week that he will be presenting the cadaver issue to the County and City planning Commissions for regulations. Carson-Newman College has indicated that they, too, will have stringent guidelines that will be adhered to concerning the site and Bohanan, who gifted the approximately 7 acres to the college, would be in the most direct line of concern should there be any issues with the site. Bohanan and his family own around 70 acres around the environmental decomposition site. Tom Carter, Director of Environmental Health for Jefferson County, will be doing soil analysis of the location and providing information to the various commissions that will be reviewing the issue. Carter stated that one of the most difficult factors is that there is nothing similar to compare it to and no real guidelines in place. Both Seals and Carter are aware that Jefferson County is setting precedent in their decisions regarding the site. The suit will be heard in Chancery Court.