Tennessee Officials Tell Campground Operator To Not Use State Land

BRISTOL, Tenn. – A local businessman was ordered Wednesday to vacate state-owned property where he has been operating a campground for race fans, state officials said.

Stan Lady, who operates a camping and parking lot at the corner of state Route 394 and Old Bluff City Highway, said he planned to purchase the state parcel and join it with a partial lot currently inside Pioneer Subdivision.

Lady, who lives on property adjacent to the campground, bulldozed a portion of the subdivision lot in preparation, and tore down about 200 feet of state-owned fencing that divided the parcel from the state property.

He does not own either lot and had no permit to do the bulldozing.

"He has been informed to vacate the state right of way immediately," said Travis Brickey, Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesman. "TDOT will be installing a temporary fence in the same place where it originally stood. There will be signs posted that identify the land as state owned.

"He was conducting business on state property, and his request for the land is still pending," Brickey said.

On Tuesday, only a chain-link fence separated Lady from two angry men during a verbal confrontation.

"You’re getting greedy, and this is being overlooked because of the [NASCAR] race," Bill Hightower told Lady as he pointed his finger at him.

Hightower’s mother owns a nearby lot in the subdivision, as does Ron Neil, who joined in the 15-minute dispute.

"You’re trying to bully your way through this," Neil barked through the fence.

Lady, owner of Lady Equipment Co. off U.S. Highway 11E, told the men he thought the state property came with a parcel of land he purchased from the state in 2003. He also said he is trying to buy the state land but has no deed for a lot on which he charges "three or four" campers $150 a week to park and set up a tent.

"I don’t want you to write in the paper that I’m using state right of way for campers," Lady warned the Herald Courier.

In a telephone call on Tuesday to the newspaper’s managing editor, Lady repeatedly said, "This is a bunch of bull crap."

When told of the state’s confirmation Tuesday that he did not own the land in question, Lady responded: "Tell Bruton Smith [Bristol Motor Speedway owner] to move the track. There’s nothing I can do about it."

After some name-calling and finger-pointing over the fence Tuesday, Lady admitted to the men he "may have put the cart before the horse" by tearing down the fencing.

"It’s just a big stink now," he said. "I shouldn’t have taken the fence down. I agree there. I shouldn’t have done that. But I knew I was buying it."

"I wish I had the time to sit around and worry about somebody’s business," he added, referring to the complaints by Hightower and Neil.

Lady had planned to connect the state-owned land with the partial lot of approximately the same size in the subdivision. The fence had marked the line between the two properties, with the state-owned lot being in the city limits and the partial lot within Sullivan County.

Lady said he’s already paid for the partial lot within the subdivision, but he’s waiting to close on the property.

That lot, at 271 Redstone Drive, is currently owned by Dorothy Henard, said Jack Morrison, a Sullivan County building inspector.

"It may be that Mr. Lady is in the process of obtaining a deed for a portion of that lot, but it is not in his name right now," Morrison said. "That’s about a half-acre lot. But county zoning says in an R-1 zone, the minimum-size lot has to be 20,000 square feet. If Mr. Lady cuts off a portion of the lot, it looks like he would have to buy some of the state property to meet the requirement. That’s the only way it could be split."

Bobby Icenhour, Sullivan County’s property assessor, told the Herald Courier, "He [Lady] doesn’t own that," referring specifically to the state property.

On Tuesday, Tim Webster, TDOT’s excess land sales coordinator for East Tennessee, confirmed that Lady wants to buy the state-owned lot, but said he may have gone too far.

"We sold him some land [in 2003], but he’s gone off of that and onto our right of way," Webster said. "From what I’ve been told, he’s gone into the Hightower property, and we didn’t give him permission to tear down the fence. That’s our fence. He could have gotten a permit to do some grading there, but he did not."

The city has a temporary campground ordinance. The land Lady has been using is state owned but within the city limits, meaning a permit is required to operate a campground there, said Jack Hyder, city attorney.

"It really doesn’t matter whose land it is," Hyder said. "If the city found someone operating without a permit, we would probably take action to keep them from accessing public land. The fine [for not having a permit] is up to $50 each day."

A call to Karl Cooler, the city’s codes administrator, revealed that Lady does not have a permit to operate a campground on the state-owned site.

"No, he does not have a permit," Cooler said.

Lady does have a permit for the camping and parking business on property he owns.

Whether any action will be taken against Lady or whether he faces any fines was not known Wednesday.

ggray@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512