The man who had dreamed of reopening the Little Nashville Opry passed away last week.
Scott Wayman’s death was announced on social media by Martinsville radio station WCBK 102.3 on May 28. He was 57.
For the past 22 years, Wayman had been an early-morning DJ for the station.
“He was a staple in the Morgan County community and brought many, many smiles to many, many faces every day. To say he will be missed is a massive, massive understatement,” the post read.
On May 29, the country radio station hosted a three-hour tribute to Wayman. Listeners were invited to request songs in his honor or post remembrances on the station’s Facebook page.
“On 9/11, I called in and asked Scott if he could play Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA.’ He did. He understood it wasn’t political, but that it was to unify. That was Scott in a nutshell. He always wanted to help out, not for gain or glory, but because he loved our hometown,” one listener wrote.
“He loved his family and friends. He loved the family business and he loved his radio job. … Our community lost a true inspiration.”
Before working as a morning DJ, Wayman covered sports events and news, like floods and tornadoes, according to the Martinsville Reporter-Times. In 2013, Wayman celebrated 30 years with the station.
He also was co-owner of Wayman’s Furniture and Appliances with his parents, Gail and Darlene.
In 2012, Wayman bought the land where the Little Nashville Opry used to sit on State Road 46 West, intending to bring country music back to Nashville. Gail became vice president of the new Little Nashville Opry organization and Scott was president, with Darlene serving as secretary.
Project status
The 2,000-seat, 22,000-square-foot Little Nashville Opry was built in 1975. An unidentified arsonist destroyed it in 2009. No one was ever convicted of the crime.
Wayman worked to rebuild the venue for years. The original opening date was set for 2013, but the project never advanced to the point of a groundbreaking.
Not only did a new Opry building need to be built, but a new wastewater treatment method also had to be put in because the original wasn’t up to code. Local officials reached out to help.
The town of Nashville offered to attach the Opry to the town’s sewer, but Wayman declined that offer because he didn’t want the possibility of being annexed, which would have meant higher taxes at that time, according to newspaper archives.
In 2013, the Brown County Council approved a $250,000, 10-year tax abatement to help Wayman secure financing to build his own wastewater treatment plant. The 10 years were not going to start until the building was finished, and the tax break would not carry forward if the Opry ceased to operate during those 10 years, according to newspaper archives.
At that time, the tax abatement was the first one the county had ever approved.
The town of Nashville also offered to annex the Opry land and place it in a tax-increment financing district, then borrow money against the amount of increased property tax revenue that would come from that development over a number of years. That TIF money could have helped pay for installing a sewer line from town limits to the Opry, and the line also could have served other properties in its path.
In 2015, Wayman told The Democrat that the county’s abatement was a better deal for him than TIF would have been, and that the amount of property tax savings from the abatement was going to come close to covering the installation of the treatment plant.
In October 2015, Wayman received a permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to build the treatment plant. At that time, Wayman said he was finalizing lending agreements and needed the IDEM permit to secure money to begin construction. According to the permit, Wayman had a year to start building the treatment plant and had five years to complete it. He had talked about getting an extension.
IDEM said last week that the wastewater project is now more than 2 1/2 years beyond its allowed start date. “As it stands now, they do not have permit approval to start construction,” said Barry Sneed, public information officer for IDEM.
In a Democrat story from November 2015, Wayman said he was waiting on the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to approve his building plans. Then, he could apply for local septic and building permits. At the time, Wayman said the plans were going through some “tweaks.”
In 2016, Wayman told The Democrat that he and his investors were not going to begin construction until all plan approvals were in place.
As of last week, the IDHS did not have a record of any permits on file for Wayman, the Little Nashville Opry, LNO LLC, or for the land’s address, according to a representative with the homeland security public records office. Wayman also hadn’t filed any documents to be reviewed, and he had not applied for an amusement and entertainment permit, the IDHS office said.
If IDHS had approved the building plans, the Brown County Health Department would then be able to sign off on the local health permit; then, plans would go to Brown County Building Commissioner Lonnie Farlee.
As of last week, Planning Director Chris Ritzmann said that her office did not have any plans from Wayman on file.
“He did come in to chat a couple of times. He talked to Lonnie to find out what he would have to do in order to get a permit. He told him he would need to have his plans reviewed and approved by the Department of Homeland Security,” Ritzmann said. “It would have to be approved (by IDHS) because we can’t issue that permit without that approval for a commercial entity.”
In 2017 — shortly before county officials announced they were building their own music venue — a new sign stating that the Opry would open in 2018 went up in the empty parking lot. One of the financiers listed on the sign had announced in a press release that $5 million had been promised to build it.
In the summer of 2013, Wayman had estimated it would cost $4.5 million to build his 30,000-square-foot venue.
Construction of the Brown County Music Center — owned by county government and financed by innkeepers taxes — began in the summer of 2018 off State Road 46 East. The 2,000-seat indoor venue is set to open in August.
The sign listing the Opry project partners no longer stands in the parking lot. The temporary sign that had advertised the Little Nashville Opry project website for years has since blown away.
Wayman’s services were June 1 at Eastview Christian Church in Martinsville. He was buried in New South Park Cemetery.
