Metro Nashville Council Member Dave Rosenberg is allegedly trying to change the zoning of a property to hurt the property owners, with whom he allegedly has stark political differences.
One of the property owners, Nashville businessman Crom Carmichael, said the property involves an abandoned rock quarry on McCrory Lane. Carmichael said he and Nashville investor Townes Duncan have owned the property for roughly 15 years.
“Rosenberg dislikes Townes Duncan and me because Townes Duncan has been a huge supporter of charter schools. He [Rosenberg] doesn’t like me because I support vouchers. Rosenburg is a big supporter of the teachers’ unions. He is doing everything he can at the council level to essentially thwart our rights to fill the hole [there] because it is our property,” Carmichael said.
“If you have a right to dig a hole then you have a right to fill the hole.”
Rosenberg did not respond to The Tennessee Star’s request for comment.
Carmichael said Metro Nashville Council members are scheduled to discuss the matter at their October 5 meeting.
“Townes and I will be there,” Carmichael said.
“This is against what the property owners want, and it is extremely unusual when a council member tries to change the zoning of a property to make it valueless over the objections of the actual property owner.”
Carmichael said Rosenburg has made no attempt to contact either him or Duncan.
“He knows full well that we are the property owners,” Carmichael said.
“We find that to be particularly disheartening, that you have a councilman who is trying to ruin the value of our property and doesn’t even bother to ask us.”
Carmichael said many people trespass on the property and swim in the quarry, despite gates, signs, and cameras on-site that forbid entry. He said a 13-year-old drowned in the quarry a few years ago. Carmichael also said he and Duncan spent more than $100,000 working with professional agencies and various state entities to gain the permits needed to fill the quarry.
“Once we received our permits, [State Representative] Bo Mitchell and David Rosenberg either spread falsehoods and used their elected positions to stop us from filling the quarry,” Carmichael said in an email.
“We went to the state legislature because both Bo Mitchell and David Rosenberg have used their elected positions to stop us. Rosenberg has gone to many departments of the city government and demanded that they stop us.”
Carmichael said that people who believe council members might set a bad precedent should get the council members’ contact information and express their concerns.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dave Rosenburg” by Councilman Dave Rosenburg.
