Resident Fight to Stop Bible Theme Park

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Tammy and Her Theme Park

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Residents of Murfreesboro, TN, just 35 minutes outside of Nashville, are coming together in protest of a proposed 282 acre  Bible Theme Park to be placed in the center of quiet rural community.  Common complaints are noise, traffic, service roads thru subdivisions, and fears of bringing real estate values down. 

The latest twist is some residents are now questioning the use of tax payers money to assist in funding a religious theme park with a TIF program.  With the TIF program, sales of bonds would help pay for the park.  The debt would then be repaid with property tax revenues generated by the Bible Park.  The TIF program has already been approved.  One resident has even asked to ACLU to step in and assist in stopping the use of  tax payers money for a religious based attraction as there is some confusion as to whether the county is defying the separation of church and state.

Thursday residents showed up in large numbers at a rezoning hearing to state their opposition to the theme park.  Opponents of rezoning the land nearly doubled the people speaking in favor of the park. 

Members of the Rutherford County Future Development Committee sent the plan on to the Regional Planning Commission without a recommendation because there was a split vote. Bob Farris, Steve Sandlin and Steven Barnes voted against the rezoning.   Voting for the zoning were Allen Swader, Mike Kusch and Talmadge Gilley.The next meeting on April 14 is expected to bring an even larger crowd.