Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone to the zoning public hearing for Thursday, 07/10/2025. At this time, we will have the emergency evacuations procedures announcement. Alright. First, madam clerk, please take the roll call.

Mister chairman, you have 11 members present, 10 or absent.

Thank you, madam clerk. Commissioners Reagan and Michaels had a conflict and could not attend this evening's meetings, and commissioner Webb has been delayed. I will declare that a quorum is in attendance. Madam clerk, please read the call of the meeting.

Notice of public hearing in accordance with Tennessee code annotated sections five five one zero five and thirteen seven one zero five. The board of county commissioners of Blount County, Tennessee will hold public hearing on 07/10/2025 at 05:30PM at the Blount County Courthouse Room 430 for the following proposed amendment to the zoning resolution of Blount County, Tennessee. A resolution to amend the zoning resolution of Blount County, Tennessee by modifying section 7.2 o c to revise the open space requirement of cluster developments.

Thank you, madam clerk. Alright. Before I call up for public comments, speakers, please remember you have three minutes to speak. When you come up to the podium, please tell us your name, the district in which you live, and then give us your public comment. Please address the commission as a whole or the chair. Please do not address individual commissioners. I'm going to start with the cards that have been submitted, and then I will ask for hands from the audience. So first, we have Austin Penton. Mister Penton, please come forward. And, again, you have three minutes, and it should be displayed up here on the projector.

Hey. Good evening to all you commissioners. Thank you all for giving us the opportunity to speak. I am Austin Pinton. I'm from Merrillville, Tennessee in District 4, up the road here off 321.

I'm here to speak tonight not on behalf of all these giant corporations that are creating these cluster homes, these d r Hortons and these Smithbilts and so forth, but I am in, approval of this motion to reduce, the green space down to 30%. As I'm here on behalf, not of those corporations and not of NAR, of which I am a member, I'm here in, in support of the Blount County ins that can't afford housing in these towns. This is what allows them to have affordable housing. I will give you an example of people that I've helped over the last couple of years, that have been able to afford housing that wouldn't traditionally have been able to. One of which is a police officer in this town, a state trooper, and out of respect of his business, I won't I won't speak his name, but he was in a rental home here in the city, and traditionally would not have been able to afford housing.

However, we were able to find him a home that worked for his family, gave him the square footage that he needed in order for his family to be comfortable and make a good life for his family here in here in Blount County. They purchased a home at under a $150 a foot through one of these tracked homes. And I understand, that this is probably confrontational to be in support of some of these homes, but the problem is is we need affordable housing for families like these that serve this community, that live in this community, that pay their money, their revenue that they bring in. They go to the businesses in the city. They they use the they use the restaurants in this city and support the businesses of the city.

I'll give you another example. Another another family that I helped, that was living in their first home that they had purchased. It was a it was a couple that had just got married about about two years, and they were gonna have a baby. Well, they were in a 660 foot house, and that is not conducive to having a child. So they had a one bedroom home that we were able to sell for them and then able to get them in a home that had almost comparable price in one of these track homes because they were able to purchase the home at around a $130 a square foot.

And unfortunately, if you look around this town in the secondary market, you will not find homes in the $130 a square foot unless they need extensive repairs and extensive amount of of work to get them in a place where they're livable. They're not turnkey whatsoever. Fortunately, these homes are turn turnkey. They are ready to go. They are backed by warranties that that travel throughout multiple years of the homes. So I would just like to speak my support for this motion, just on the behalf of the Blount County and here in this county that need affordable housing. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next, have Julie Conkel.

Hi. So I am doctor Julie Kunkel. My area of expertise is watershed management and natural resource management. I am president of the board of East Tennessee Quality Growth. I work at Blount County Conservation District and at Maryville College as an environmental science professor.

And the objective assessment of this amendment to the resolution would be there would be a negative impact on natural resources, and I do not think, that it would be conducive to achieving the goals, that we've outlined in the comprehensive plan. So, if we look at existing issues, and I'm an accounting all the time on many, many properties, We have issues related to erosion, flooding. It is damaging private and public properties. And if we continue to develop very rapidly without thinking very smartly about how we design those cluster developments outside of the city limits, then we are going to compound those issues. We have a lot of infrastructure that needs to be retrofitted, and we need to rethink how we're designing these subdivisions.

And if you look at the industry, we find that low impact development accomplishes all of the things. It incorporates more modern and sustainable designs. It actually increases the market profit margins for the developers and the construct contractors doing the work because you are reducing construction costs. And you can accommodate affordable housing, especially where this is limited to outside of the city limit, while also increasing property value. And so if we are reducing open spaces, we are actually gonna be subpar compared to the national average.

These more advanced designs typically require 50% of open spaces, and 40% is on the low end of those requirements. I think that there's a lot of room in the existing resolution for us to grow and to consider how we move forward according to the values that have been put forth for the last forty years by Blount County residents. So for forty years, we've had surveys and comprehensive plans developed on the inputs from the residents, and they have outlined again and again that environmental stewardship and preserving our rural areas as priorities to maintain the character of Blount County that we're so proud to call our home. And I think that reducing that required space, open spaces, there again, in cluster developments outside of city limits, not referring to within city limits. I think that this would be kind of a direct statement from the commission that it is prioritizing accelerated development of rural areas and kind of devaluing the voice of the residents that has been recorded again and again over forty years.

And I'm more than happy to provide detailed information on all of these things. I have data on everything.

Thank you very much. Alright. Now I'll ask for hands from the audience. Please raise your hand if you wish to come and speak during the public public hearing. Yes, sir.

My

name is Scott Gallison. I'm District 6. I got a couple of things to talk about with all due respect to the gentleman who spoke about affordable housing. I've spoken before you guys a bunch of times. You might not recognize me, but I'm a bit of a pain. Best Road is a huge development cluster development, And I've asked the board. There was there was a room full of real estate people here a number of times back when we were talking about the about the zoning changes. And I asked any number of times for somebody to define to me what is affordable housing in Blount County. You take the median income. It can't be that complicated.

I'm not a rocket scientist, but I feel like these real estate people could actually tell us $190,000 is a is a affordable house in Blount County. Well, Best Road, where they're packing houses six to an acre, maybe six to a half acre. I don't know. 1,414 square feet, $312,000. 1,764 square feet, $345,000.

1,618 square feet, $333,000. Now, I'm willing to bet that $300,000 is not what defines affordable housing in Blount County. If it does, I just found the the land of gold and honey because that's more expensive than my daughter and her husband who have great jobs just bought a fixer upper because that's all they could afford. Moving on. My bigger issue is the planning commission's vote.

You have 11 members here tonight, and it is I'm under the impression, because I spoke to the parliamentarian and the former parliamentarian who are in charge of enforcing Robert's rules and meeting decorum, that at this meeting, you would need 11 votes if there was something on the table because you need a 50% vote. Well, all you have here is 11 tonight. So if there was something that were gonna be voted on, all of you would have to vote for it. Yet on the planning commission, when this thing was moved forward, planning commission is 12 people. Five votes moved this forward because, evidently, when I asked about it, the planning commission has different rules and regulations about how they conduct their meetings.

I was unable to get a copy of how the these meetings are conducted in these rules, but five people. And by that rule, if you back it up and say there were only seven people, it's still a quorum. Four people could have moved this forward. Four citizens unelected could move something forward to a commission without a majority, without a true majority of their board. That is I I I've talked about how the planning commission should be an elected board.

They have way too much power and way too much say what goes on in this county without being elected. Lastly, the the the watershed lady talked about it. The people of Blount County have spoken on this. I didn't get a chance to go back and research how the vote went when we passed this resolution to move it to 40%, but there had to be 11 of you who voted for So I just hope that you stand your your ground and know that elections you're elected. They matter. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else wishing to speak, please raise your hand. Yes, ma'am. Please come forward.

Good evening. Pat McGill, district four, speaking to you all again about housing. It is my industry. It is how I earn a living for my family. But more importantly to that, it's important to me just that a citizen of Blount County.

And I was just looking around the room, and I was thinking if we took the numbers of everyone who had a child or a grandchild in this room, and we said, many houses if those kids stay in this county for the next twenty years, how many houses will we need just for them? Not anybody else's kids, not the rest of your family, not people you go to church with, work with, but just you all. And if we need a 100 houses and we don't get that density that we need in some of these cluster developments, then instead of needing one cluster development with 50 homes or 60, you're gonna need a second development to house those folks. So in my mind, I understand what you're trying to do when you want to have more green space, but I thought that was the purpose of cluster developments is that if you get more homes on a smaller track of land, then the farms remain. But to me, this is counterproductive to that because what you're getting is you need more of those for the same amount of houses.

And I just don't think that's the best use, and I'm for smart use of our land. And the other thing is I've heard some folks say that this is not about affordable housing, but it is about attainable housing for everyone who wants to live in Blount County. And I'm talking about my grandchildren right now. My children have homes, but I am talking about them. And we think about cluster development.

I'm thinking about a single daughter I have who does live in a cluster development, and she doesn't mind having a small yard. Because if she didn't have a small yard, I probably would be over there helping her weed eat it and mow it. So I'm glad she has a small yard. And if you all don't have someone in your family, an older person, or anybody else that needs a small yard, I I get I've said this before to this group. I grew up on a farm.

Seeing that and having farm life is good, but it is not for everyone. And I think we really narrow our vision when we think that everyone wants, you know, five acres and a mule. I just don't think that's the case. I think we have folks who want a smaller home, something that they can afford and and live in. And I also think that the purpose of the cluster developments is to put to not just keep sprawling out into the community. But when you don't invite these type of developments, that's what you're going to do. You're just going to increase sprawl. Thank you for letting me speak.

Thank you. Anyone else, please raise your hand. Alright. Seeing no hands, going once.

Yep. Alright.

I will declare the public hearing to be closed. And without objection, this, hearing is adjourned.