KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Town of Greenback and the Loudon County Planning Commission have entered into a lawsuit to decide the zoning of a property currently under development to be a rock quarry.
Local businessman Rodney Murphy bought the property in March 2023. During the rest of that year, town meetings were held where people spoke out against the potential quarry.
"They're ruining our peacefulness that we used to have here in Greenback," Joy LaForce, a neighbor, said.
In January, the Town said they confirmed the zoning for the property as M-1 light industrial which would prohibit the building of a quarry.
"So M-1 is for the no rock quarry, and no subdivision. So that's where we're at on that," Mayor Dewayne Birchfield said.
The quarry operator's counter lawsuit said the property was never zoned by the Town, therefore making the development legal.
Rodney Murphy declined to appear on camera but did share the statement below:
"It is really disappointing that the Mayor didn’t even tell me about the zoning after I had been generous enough to come to a Town meeting at his request to explain my plans for the quarry. You would have thought he would have the common decency at least to tell me about the meeting. But I guess we’ll have to let a judge settle it now.”
Neighbors have banded together to bring awareness to the project. Joy LaForce said the construction is already impacting her long-time home.
"Can you imagine laying by a pool listening to that? In your retirement," LaForce said.
"I don't want to see Greenback destroyed and I feel that if we don't have people behind us, that's what we're gonna see," Stacy Oneil, another neighbor, said.
The lawyers for the Town and the quarry operators both said they hope for a resolution to this issue as soon as possible.