Can a Farming Community Resist a Development Boom?

0:05In the middle of Tennessee, there's a place that feels far removed from city living. It's called Coffee County, and my colleague Cam McWhirter recently traveled there. It's extremely rural. There's a lot of farms that are sort of low rolling hills. There's a lot of cattle. There's a lot of corn being grown. It's a very bucolic setting. But not far from Coffee County, there are urban centers that are growing quickly. It is on the road between Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, and north of Huntsville, Alabama, which is a big booming part of the South as well. In recent years, that boom has been spilling beyond those city boundaries.

0:52And for a while, it seemed like Coffey County was poised to take on some of that growth. The mayor, which is the top executive in the county, a guy named Judd Matheny, had been very pro-growth and was ready to turn the county into lots of subdivisions, lots of development, lots of businesses. He was ready for that to happen. I mean, obviously, covering the growth in the South, you see development everywhere. And farms are being converted into subdivisions all the time. But in Coffey County, the drive for growth took a sudden turn. Last spring, Matheny died unexpectedly. And with him, the momentum behind development.

1:34His death unleashed this political switch and this political fight now over whether this county can stop that kind of growth. Or at least reduce it. And what was supposed to be a period of steady development turned into a period of open dispute. One that's forcing the community to confront its priorities and what it means to be conservative. On one side of the fight, a continued push for transformation. We could create a larger tax base. We could have better restaurants. We started this fight for everybody in the county, not just me. And on the other side, a stand for tradition. The farm I live on is three generations.

2:21My grandpa's got his blood, sweat, and tears in this, my daddy, my uncle, and now me. I just can't, there's not enough money out there to buy it from me. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Friday, August 22nd.

2:46Coming up on the show, a fight over land turns into a fight over values.

3:05Judd Matheny, the man behind the drive to develop Coffey County, had been involved in Tennessee politics for a long time. He'd been a state representative and chairman of the Coffey County Republican Party. And in 2022, he ran for county mayor on a promise to bring economic growth and development. Here's Matheny on the campaign trail. Beautiful rural farmlands, beautiful hillsides. We want to preserve and protect all those things. We want to make it still as rural and agrarian as we can where we can. But at the same time, we have to strike that balance for the new things that are coming our way because it will eat our lunch and run right through us and we'll do nothing but catch up for 20 years if we don't get ahead of it now.

3:44Matheny was focused on developing an industrial site that had the potential to attract a lot of companies. Volkswagen located on a mega site. Nissan locates on mega sites. The new Ford Motor Company in West Tennessee locates on a mega site. These are jobs, these are locations that create thousands of very well-paying jobs. And then the spinoff jobs they create are extraordinary. The vision seemed to resonate. In August of 2022, Matheny was elected mayor. He was trying to redefine what parts of the county would be considered agricultural and what wouldn't be. He wanted Coffey County to be lots of growth, lots of subdivisions, which he argued would bring in a lot of tax revenue.

4:27As mayor, Matheny tried to make changes to both zoning rules and the planning commission to try to speed up development in the region. But after his death, a county commissioner named Dennis Hunt stepped up as interim mayor and was later elected. Hunt did not support Matheny's pro-growth agenda. Dennis Hunt was much more pro-farmer and ran on a platform of being pro-farmer. And pretty soon the Planning Commission and the County Commission started imposing all these rules to put restrictions on growth. So it sounds like under Dennis Hunt, the county kind of did a 180 on what direction it was going in terms of development.

5:06I think both sides, both sides do not agree on a lot of things, but they would both agree on that. That Matheny's death and then Hunt's rise really switched the way the county was approaching growth. That switch has brought tensions over development up to the surface. Tensions that, according to Cam's reporting, have spilled over into churches, schools, and shopping centers.

5:36Sean Jones is one of the residents who has taken up a side of the fight. He's a farmer who's against the push for development. Can you describe your home and your farm? You know, when you walk out your front door and you look around, what do you see? If I walk out my front door, I see the mountains. I have a beautiful view out my door of Mon Eagle Mountain. We refer to this part of the country as God's country. It's just, words can't describe it. You have to see it. You really do. Sean is 40 years old. His family has farmed in the county since the 1800s. He's over six feet tall and is almost always wearing a baseball cap over his short brown hair.

6:12Sean's farm is around 500 acres. He grows corn, soybeans, and hay, and also raises cattle. I can remember when I was in kindergarten, you know, they go around and they ask everybody what you want to be when you grow up. And I wanted to be a farmer. I mean, I've wanted to farm from day one. What do you love about farming? If you've never done it, it's hard to explain. It gets in your blood. It's a passion is what it is. It's like I've told people before, and a lot of people laugh at me when I say it. You take corn, for instance, we plant 32 ,000 seeds per acre on corn. Well, to me, for every acre of corn I got, that's 32 ,000 kids I got out there.

6:54So I want the best for each one of them. As someone with a close connection to his land, Sean wants to protect the agricultural parts of the county. But earlier this year, he got some news about a development being planned near his farm.

7:10I got a text message from a neighbor that just sent me a picture of a plot. And do you know where this is? No. And they told me. And at that time, they were looking to add over 50 homes, not a half mile from me. How did you feel when you realized that? It bothered me because the land is how I make a living. And I understand, you know, people building houses, that's how they make a living. So I get it. You know, I understand. But I don't know. It just—we don't need it in this area. Leave development in the city where it belongs. Sean says he's concerned that more houses mean more people, and that more people means more vehicles on the roads.

8:06And that could have a big impact on his day-to-day working conditions. Out here in the rural areas, we just can't. You know, we don't have—the roads aren't wide enough. It's all we can do now to get equipment up and down some of the roads. And then you take meeting another vehicle. I had a guy bring it up to me. Well, you know, I don't want to put my$50 ,000 car in the ditch. I was like, well, I don't want to put my$250 ,000 combine in the ditch, you know.

8:35The land being proposed for development is owned by another local, a 47-year-old farmer named Nick Graham. I'm Nicholas Graham, and I'm a resident of Coffey County. We farm, been involved in the sod business and the row crop farming business, been involved in the cattle business and stuff too. Nick is broad-shouldered with dark hair. He often wears polos and khaki shorts. His family has also farmed at Coffey County for generations. But Nick has long viewed land as more than fields to farm. He saw it as an asset. He's been buying up land since his early 20s. And over time, he's accumulated over 1 ,000 acres.

9:14What made you decide that this was a good time to pursue sort of development on this land? We have a lot of stuff coming up in Coffey County right now. We have a joint industrial park that's getting fuller as we speak. And then we have a mega site that our governor has purchased that's not maybe five miles from this farm, maybe a little bit farther from this farm. But it's 1 ,800 acres, and they're talking about large factories and lots of jobs coming for people. We don't have any affordable housing really here. So it felt like you were answering a need in the community or a growing need, a potential need.

9:49Yes, ma 'am. For Nick, this was also about making good on a long-term investment. I was dividing up a piece of real estate that I bought and I held and I paid for. And so it's no different for me than everybody else's 401k. That's mine. You know what I'm saying? I've invested heavily in that. After he proposed the subdivision in January, Nick was surprised to hear the negative reactions. The neighbors on the road got very hostile, and they were not happy about it at all. I don't know that any of them extremely disliked me or anything because of it, but they posted a lot of stuff on Facebook and didn't like the fact that I was, you know, subdividing this property that's 2.7 miles from Industrial Park.

10:31So I thought I would have just a tangent pushback from somebody or something, but nothing like what's synthesized out of this. No way. I had no idea.

10:44Over the past few months, Nick's proposed subdivision, along with other development plans in Coffey County, has grown beyond disagreements about planning projects. It's become something bigger, a clash of values. Here's my colleague Cam again. Everyone's fighting there over what it means to be a conservative. And a lot of people were saying things like, being conservative means saving these farms and saving that way of life that people have known for so long. And another part of the county believes strongly that conservative means land rights, and I can do whatever I want with my property. And if that means selling to create subdivisions, that's what I'm allowed to do.

11:26After the break, the conflict escalates.

11:42As the political tides in Coffey County shifted, residents who favored the preservation of farmland began to rally. Farmers like Sean, who's worried about more people and more traffic, became more involved in pushing back against development. We go to meetings, planning meetings, BZA meetings, county commission meetings, and mainly we just make our voice heard. Good evening, everybody. I'm Sean Jones again, multi-generational farmer. That's Sean at a county meeting back in March, where others also spoke up against projects like Nick's subdivision. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Janon.

12:16I stand before you, not for the first time, but once again fighting to protect our rural communities. What will happen when we start spreading chicken manure on our fields next to a subdivision? They're going to complain to this office up here. I just ask that you would consider the fact that there's farmers there, there's cows, there's horses in that area. These residents worry about development eating into the county's farmland. In a 2022 report, the American Farmland Trust estimated that without stricter growth policies, Tennessee would lose more than 1 ,500 square miles, or roughly 8 % of its farmland, by 2040.

13:01Would you say that for you this is about preserving a way of life? Yes. Yeah, I mean, preserving the rural culture, it's like it was brought up to me, well, you know, I want to build a house in the country because I like the view and the scenery and everything like that. And I understand that. I mean, I love the view I've got. But if you keep building houses out here, that view is going to go away. And, you know, a lot of people, they can sell their house, pack up and go. And I can't. I'm emotionally attached to what I have. The farm I live on is three generations. You know, my grandpa's got his blood, sweat and tears and this, my daddy, my uncle, and now me.

13:51I just can't, there's not enough money out there to buy it from me. As the dispute has grown, each side has become more vocal about their views. In a Facebook group for Coffey County Residents Against Development, one post reads, quote, Historically, conservatism has emphasized order, prudence, stewardship, and a deep respect for heritage. The post went on to say, quote, It's about preserving traditional values and communities, not selling them off for short-term gain. On the other side, those who are pushing for growth say conservatism is about their freedom to exercise their rights. At one local meeting, a sign read, vote like a conservative.

14:28Less government, less rules, less regulations, lower taxes. Nick is one of the locals who sees officials' actions to restrict growth as government overreach. They shouldn't have control over our land and be able to force us into doing, As long as we're doing it legally by the codes we bought it and meeting every requirement by the state and the federal government and all that stuff and doing a good job and not being, you know, and being good citizens, they should not have the right to do that. No, no. We could create a larger tax base. We could have better restaurants. We, you know, we started this fight for everybody in the county, not just me.

15:13At the moment, the side fighting to preserve farmland and rural life has the upper hand. In March, the county imposed a three-month ban on subdivisions on land zoned for agriculture. When that ban expired, a new law took its place. Any agricultural land in the county has to be sold in a minimum of five-acre increments. That's about four football fields, which, my colleague Cam says, makes subdivision development of farmland nearly impossible. If each building had to include five acres, it just doesn't work mathematically. And so that effectively stopped subdivision, large subdivisions from being built in agriculture areas, which really put a kibosh on that happening in the county.

16:00Nick proposed his subdivision plan before that minimum was put in place, so it got approved. But he had to make changes to his proposal. Now, the subdivision will have 39 homes instead of the original 51. But Nick's future prospects for developing the rest of his land don't look good. How do you think the five-acre minimum rule might affect any future parcels that you might want to sell or try to develop? It would affect me very bad, and it would affect everybody in the whole county, not just me. It's not just a me problem. them. These changes were, they're done to stop everybody. They're done to stop the average Joes, anybody out here with a house in five acres.

16:46And I've seen this done a lot of times, people will have a five-acre tract and then have a hospital bill or lose a job. And they could go sell this one lot off this five-acre tract for$70 ,000. And this guy that was struggling here just picked up 70 grand to pay his hospital bills. So they have crippled him. My colleague Cam says Nick's views aren't uncommon. Farming is a tough business, and it's very, very thin margins, and it really depends on the weather and hard work. And there are farmers who, you know, three generations in, they're looking at farmland, and if they can sell it, they can get a lot more money if they sell to a developer than if they sell to another farmer.

17:31So for some farming families, owning farmland is sort of their 401k, right? They see it as the way they can sell the land, the subdivision will come in, and they can retire. And that is how a lot of them see it. The county said that people who want to sell their farmland in less than five-acre lots can apply for rezoning or a legal exception called a variance. Let me ask you, Cam, do you feel like this situation in Coffey County is bound to go one way or the other? Is there a sense of where this development debate, what direction that might go? No, I think there's going to be elections coming up where the county executive will be up for re-election.

18:12And how that goes will determine how the county sees it. And I don't know how that's going to go. Growth pressures aren't going away, I can tell you that. Nashville keeps growing. Chattanooga keeps growing. Huntsville keeps growing. and people are looking for affordable housing and a subdivision is for many families an answer and I don't see that pressure alleviating. So right now I would say they fought to a draw but I don't know how this story ends. This battle is happening everywhere in rural America because we've seen a great dispersal of people desperate for housing, housing affordability and they are America is on the move and families are looking for a way to find affordable housing.

19:06So this fight is happening everywhere. In a lot of places, it's not even a fight. It's just happening.

19:30That's all for today, Friday, August 22nd. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. The show is made by Catherine Brewer, Pia Gedkari, Carlos Garcia, Rachel Humphries, Sophie Codner, Ryan Knudsen, Matt Kwong, Colin McNulty, Annie Minoff, Laura Morris, Enrique Perez de la Rosa, Sarah Platt, Alan Rodriguez-Espinosa, Heather Rogers, Pierce Singhi, Jivika Verma, Lisa Wang, Catherine Whalen, Tatiana Zamis, and me, Jessica Mendoza. Our engineers are Griffin Tanner, Nathan Singapok, and Peter Leonard, with help this week from Sam Baer. Our theme music is by So Wiley. Additional music this week from Catherine Anderson, Marcus Begala, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, Nathan Singapok, Griffin Tanner, and Blue Dot Sessions.

20:15Fact-checking this week by Jennifer Gorin.

20:22Thanks for listening. See you on Monday.