LINCOLN COUNTY, Tenn. (WHNT) – A Lincoln County judge has issued an order that will temporarily halt the construction of Jack Daniel’s whiskey barrel warehouses.
Residents have complained about the whiskey fungus that comes from the warehouses and other environmental risks associated with the warehouse operations.
Christi Long has sued Lincoln County over this issue. In a court order, Lincoln County Chancellor J.B. Cox instructed zoning officials to order construction to be stopped after he ruled that a permit was never fully issued.
Patrick and Christi Long have battled Lincoln County for months over the issue of an uncontrollable fungus that is harming everything in sight, including thousands of dollars of shrubs and trees on their property. But they claim that their complaints have gone unanswered.
“Here is this huge corporation that makes all this money and here we are these little bitty people that don’t feel like they have a voice,” said Christi Long.
Long hired an attorney and sued the county arguing it did not properly approve permits for the warehouses that are located only yards from their property. According to attorney Jason Holleman, the court order found that Brown-Forman and Jack Daniels applied for a permit just one day before the hearing took place.
“They found that that building permit for the barrel house currently under construction is invalid and has required Jack Daniels and the county to go through the proper process for both site plan approval and then proper building permit issuance,” Holleman told News 19.
As a result of the ruling Holleman said he will ask the court to order Brown-Forman to stop using several recently built barrel houses that are also in the same area.
“They also can see the findings that the court made, and we will first ask the county if they will voluntarily issue stop work orders for all these buildings,” Holleman explained. “Because it’s quite clear under this ruling that they are not in compliance and not only the ones under construction but the others as well.”
A Brown-Forman spokesperson issued a statement to the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper on Wednesday that reads; “We respect the chancellor’s ruling and look forward to working with Lincoln County on updated permits. The Jack Daniel Distillery will continue to comply with regulations and industry standards regarding the design, construction, and permitting of our barrelhouses in Lincoln Co.”
Patrick and Christi Long said they will now move forward to the planning and zoning meeting on Thursday night to request that officials demand that Brown-Forman Corporation and Jack Daniels issue a filtration and environmental impact study on the remaining barrel houses.
