Following a vote by the Carter County Planning Commission, the creation of an environmental court is one step closer to becoming a reality for the county.

Members of the Planning Commission unanimously approved changes to the county’s current litter resolution to grant the county the authority to define property nuisances and seek relief from the court in getting the properties cleaned up.

As the Planning Commission’s special sub-committee on creating an environmental court worked on the issue, Carter County Attorney Josh Hardin told members of that group the county would need to make updates and changes to its existing litter resolution in order for that to move ahead. On Tuesday, Hardin presented the updated resolution to the full Planning Commission for their consideration.

“This takes our current resolution and expands, updates, and modernizes it, in my opinion,” Hardin told the group.

The new resolution also takes care of some omissions contained in the previous resolution, Hardin said.

One of the new sections serves to define what makes a problem or derelict property a “public nuisance.” Under state law, county governments are granted the authority to define what is a “public nuisance” and then to take actions to abate that nuisance, Hardin said. Those actions would include taking the property owners to court if they fail to clean up the property and correct any problem issues.

The current plan for the environmental court is to have these cases heard in Chancery Court before Chancellor John Rambo. That is the short-term solution arranged by the sub-committee.

The ultimate goal is to have these cases heard in General Sessions Court, but currently, the General Sessions Court caseload is too heavy for Judge Keith Bowers Jr. to take on the additional responsibilities of an environmental court.

With Chancery Court providing them a starting point, county officials will begin looking at a couple of options for the environmental court such as contracting with a specially appointed magistrate to preside over the environmental court cases or adding a second General Sessions Court track which would not only hear the environmental cases but could also take some of the caseload burden off of Bowers.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to pass the updated resolution and to forward it on to the full Carter County Commission for a public hearing and final approval. Hardin said it will take a two-thirds majority for the resolution to pass the full Commission.

To make the environmental court more effective, the county will also need to adopt the property maintenance codes which will be presented to the full County Commission for approval later this year, according to Carter County Planning Director Chris Schuettler.

In other business, the Planning Commission voted to send a proposed resolution to allow the Carter County Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development apply to the state to have Carter County designated as a “Certified Broadband Ready Community.” The designmation would allow the county to attract more businesses and industries to the area as well as provide grant opportunities to broadband internet service providers to assist them in expanding internet services in the county.

Because the proposed resolution and Broadband Ready Community program would make some changes to the county’s planning and zoning regulations, the resolution must be presented at a public hearing giving members of the community the chance to voice their opinion on the matter.

Planning Commission members voted to send the resolution to Hardin for review and then to present it at a public hearing and Planning Commission meeting on Nov. 10. If approved at that meeting, the resolution would then be forwarded to the full County Commission approval for adoption at their November meeting.