Bible Theme Park tactics exposed

Rutherford County Commissioner Steve Sandlin called it "backhanded shenanigans." Whatever you call it, an attempt by Bible Theme Park representative Terri Sterling to steer last night's Rutherford County Commission meeting was not well received by commissioners.

At the heart of the incident was a petition by land owners to require a two-thirds vote by Rutherford County Commissioners to approve a rezoning request for a proposed Bible Theme Park. After five long hours of public comments and debate, the commission fell two votes short of approving the rezoning request.

For representatives of the proposed Bible Theme Park, today is all about plan "B": challenging the validity of the petitioning land owners whose properties are adjacent to the 280 acre plot of land in the Blackman community where developers want to build their tourist attraction.

But it was plan "A" that moved last night's county commission to seek rules to prevent what many commissioners described as a poisonous attempt by Bible Theme Park representatives to steer last night's commission proceedings and disenfranchise petitioning land owners.

During a question and answer session, undecided Commissioner Robert Peay, Jr. stated he was prepared to vote "no" on rezoning if he could not get adequate answers on taxes related to the proposed park. Fearing a lack of votes for the two thirds required to pass, Sterling proceeded to sequester select commissioners during the public comment session and advised them to make a motion to stop public comments and defer the rezoning vote until June. When the commissioners returned to the floor and made the motion on the developer's behalf, two commissioners who saw what was happening challenged the returning commissioners.

Commissioner Trey Gooch, who represents the district in which the proposed theme park would be built, asked Commissioner Jeff Phillips whether he was advised by Sterling to make his motion in order to disenfranchise petitioning land owners. Phillips obfuscated but eventually admitted to the incident. Gooch then asked Commissioner Ronald Williams the same question. Williams protested the questioning but confirmed what had occurred. The audience and fellows commissioners were visibly upset upon the revelation leading Phillips to withdraw his motion out of embarrassment.

A subsequent attempt to defer the vote also failed as commissioners expressed a determination to put the Bible Theme Park behind them. Many commissioners noted during the proceedings that the incident had poisoned long-standing relationships that could take years to repair and that the incident had undermined their deliberative process.

The tactics by Bible Theme Park representatives were viewed as so egregious by commissioners that they voted to seek a new rule to prevent it from ever happening again. Sterling did not respond to requests for comment, and her website is no longer online.

UPDATE 2:47pm - Sterling's website is now back online.

UPDATE 4:11pm - Here is an excerpt from a lengthy response to this post from the SafeHarbor Holding Development Team.

We personally witnessed a Commission member who voted against this proposal standing in the conference room adjacent to the Chambers talking to someone while the public hearing was ongoing. Is that a problem? No of course not. Is that unethical? No of course not. Do we, as the proponents, see that "discussion" as some conspiratorial plot to undermine the County Commission process? No of course not. It is exactly how the process is supposed to work and does everywhere in America. There are numerous extremely serious issues facing Rutherford County. It would seem that the County’s fiscal problems and other serious issues on the table before them may be more important than rules about who can to [sic] speak to their elected representative during a debate.