TIPTON COUNTY, Tenn. — Some homeowners in Tipton County are crying foul after they said campers have been illegally set up on private properties by construction workers who are building BlueOval City.
Much of it is happening in the eastern portion of Tipton County, not far from Ford's Stanton Plant.
Neighbors said workers are bringing their campers, many from out of state, to privately owned lots in Tipton County, paying hundreds of dollars a month to camp. But county administrators told ABC24 what they campers are doing is illegal, and they’ve been getting away with it for months.
Driving down State Route 179 in Charleston, just across the county line from BlueOval City, and multiple campers pop up on private land. Brian Huggins told ABC24 they’re there illegally.
“If you want to do it legally, you have to pay for a permit, you have to pay for inspections. You have to do everything legally," he said. “They just bring their camper and find a place to park and rent the lot to park on, and they go to work at BlueOval.”
Huggins said the trailers are the homes of out-of-state workers currently constructing BlueOval City not far away in Stanton.
On one stretch of TN-179, ABC24 counted nearly a dozen trailers.
Tipton County Director of Planning William Veazey said they are illegal. He told ABC24 the county had requirements for temporary camping trailers prior to BlueOval City, but said those regulations weren’t created for a mass amount of people coming to the area to set up semi-permanent homes.
He said they created new regulations for the campers last year, but it was already too late.
“By the time they got put in place, we were at 50 to 75 of them out there," said Veazey.
Veazey said he has drafted dozens of violation notices, but the problem right now is he doesn’t have the staff to identify all of the properties - let alone engage with those property owners about the violations.
"I’ve got them all laid out and I have them broken into different categories for people who don’t meet the minimum acreage requirements for zoning, said Veazey, "... so I’ve got them broken down to be able to send out the letters. I just don’t have the time to deal with potential court - all that part of it. I mean, it’s just… There’s only me.”
Huggin's brother and next-door neighbor received a letter from the county saying that he is in violation because he does not meet the minimum requirements for his property to be used as camping grounds, where he has three campers.
The letter was sent nine months ago and the trailers are still there as of Aug. 28.