from The Lebanon Democrat::Nov. 7, 2008
Bible Park financing passes through city council
By: By J.R. LIND

Nov. 7, 2008 – The Bible Park moved forward a few important steps Thursday.

The Lebanon City Council and, later, the county Budget Committee nodded important resolutions needed for the park to secure certain types of financing.

It took some wrangling between two local legal lions to get the approval of the city council.

Councilor William Farmer, a local attorney, wanted to amend a resolution that gave the city council's acceptance to an economic-impact study needed to secure tax-increment financing. Farmer wanted the city to be assured it would not have to pay attorney fees in the event the city is sued in federal court for a violation of the U.S. or Tennessee constitution.

"The question is potential of indemnification in the event of any lawsuits," Farmer said. "Is this a violation of the Establishment Clause? I don't think so, but I don't know."

The Establishment Clause is part of the First Amendment which reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Later court decisions have extended that prohibition to lower governments and established a standard – called the Lemon test – to prohibit "excessive government entanglement" with religion.

"I personally think it can be built without a problem," Farmer said. "If it fails the Lemon test, there could be a potential problem. ... Therefore I re-raise the question, if their lawyer believes they won't have a problem, then there shouldn't be a problem indemnifying the city. I'm not putting this forward to block the Bible Park."

Then the local counsel for the park, Jack Lowery Sr., stepped forward.

"I take issue with Mr. Farmer and his proposal. I think this may be a veiled attempt to block it. [The amendment] says 'any lawsuit.' I can't remember any industry that was saddled with this. We would indemnify the city if the ACLU sued. This amendment is so wide-ranging and so inclusive," Lowery said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has already filed an open-records request with the county about the Bible Park.

Mayor Don Fox looked between Farmer and Lowery and noted that "we are getting a courtroom going in here."

So Farmer changed his amendment, limiting the scope to suits involving the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and comparable portions of the state constitution.

That was enough to get the the economic-impact plan accepted on second and final reading. Only Councilor Alex Buhler voted no, as he did on first reading. State law requires local legislative bodies to accept impact studies for projects to be authorized to received bonds paid through tax-incremental financing. The council did that, but added that the bonds issued by the Industrial Development Board would not exceed $60 million without further council action. The project's developers have said they are looking for $13 million to $15 million in TIF-backed bonds.

TIF is a process wherein the increase in property tax incurred by land improvements is captured and used to pay off bonds. Since both the county and city assess property taxes, both the county commission and city council have to approve the plan before the Industrial Development Board can issue the non-recourse bonds.

The impact plan similarly passed the Budget Committee and will have to be later approved by the county commission.

The City Council also approved a measure supporting the creation of a "tourism development zone" for the park. The creation of the TDZ would allow a 5 percent privilege tax to be assessed within the bounds of the park. That tax would also be captured and used to retire between $35 and $45 million in bonds.

A number of citizens spoke in favor of the park at the council meeting, many wearing green "Bible Park Yes" stickers.

Local restauranteur Peter Demos said sales at the Nashville Demos' location go up whenever a religious convention is in town.

Others spoke of their support because of the religious nature of the proposed $175 million project.

"I talked with [park developer Ron Wyatt]. ... He said he wanted the park to give the Lord glory. It will uplift Jesus Christ. ... I see the Bible Park as a new way of sharing the Gospels," Bro. Bob Evans of Love One Another Embassy said.

At the county meeting, only Commissioner Jim Emberton voted no.

"I just don't have an appreciation of what we signed off on tonight. There's just something I don't feel comfortable with. How many years is this going to be? They won't tell us; I just say no," he said.

State statute allows for TIF and TDZ bonds to be issued for as long as 30 years, but the park team has said that TIF bonds typically retire in a much shorter period of time.

Next, the bonding resolutions move to the county commission, which meets again Nov. 17.