When: Thu. November 13, 2008 5:00 PM

COMPLETE STREETS are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street.

The Alcoa/Maryville Complete Streets Study will examine the Washington Street/Hall Road corridor, from Lamar Alexander Parkway to Lincoln Road to come up with recommendations for how to make a Complete Street.

Second public workshop/input opportunities:

Location: Maryville College, Pearsons Hall, Proffitt Dining Room.

November 13, 2008, Thursday, 6 to 8 pm.
At the second workshop, the consultants will present back to the public some options for how to make the corridor a Complete Street, and you will have the chance to respond to what you see.

H/T The Daily Times (couldn't find the article onlne)

When: Mon. November 10, 2008 5:00 PM

COMPLETE STREETS are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street.

The Alcoa/Maryville Complete Streets Study will examine the Washington Street/Hall Road corridor, from Lamar Alexander Parkway to Lincoln Road to come up with recommendations for how to make a Complete Street.

Two public workshop/input opportunities:

Location: Maryville College, Pearsons Hall, Proffitt Dining Room.

November 10, 2008, Monday, 6 to 8 pm.
At the first workshop, you’ll have your chance to learn more about Complete Streets and to weigh in on how we get there.

November 13, 2008, Thursday, 6 to 8 pm.
At the second workshop, the consultants will present back to the public some options for how to make the corridor a Complete Street, and you will have the chance to respond to what you see.

H/T The Daily Times (couldn't find the article onlne)

Gallagher said his win was a clear indication that Louisville wants transparency in government and enforcement of zoning regulations.

The people in the Town of Louisville know a good man when they meet him. We know he will do a great job.

Congratulations, Joe!

The Blount County TPO Regional Mobility Plan 2035 meeting was held at the library. There were eighteen attendees and three presenters. Jeff Welch and Amy Brooks were two of the three representatives from Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO). At least four of the attendees were either local government employees or press. At least one representative of CAPPE was in attendance.

The first half was a slide-show presentation regarding the function of TPO, the areas they cover, previous meeting participant action items, area growth, and principles (e.g. preserve and manage).

When: Wed. September 10, 2008 6:00 PM

Blount County Public Library
500 N Cusick Street; Maryville

Please join us as we continue our discussion of the future of mobility in the Knoxville region. We will review the feedback we received during the spring workshops and talk about how we want to get around the region in the future. This discussion will help us identify steps we can take as a region to achieve our common vision.

Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization Background.

When: Fri. September 5, 2008 7:00 PM

SAVE IT, DON’T PAVE IT!
A benefit concert for CAPPE

Friday, Sept. 5, 7-11pm at The Shed

Performers in order of appearance:

Maggie Longmire & Free Soil Farm

Maggie has a terrific reputation as a member of Knoxville band Lonesome Coyotes. With Free Soil Farm you’ll hear Maggie and friends and a new repertoire of original material.

Jay Clark and the CC Stringband

Jay is a talented singer-songwriter-guitarist and long-time friend of CAPPE. Jay will be joined by the CC Stringband.

The Lonetones

The Lonetones bring tender harmonies and fine lyrics to their original mountain music.

The Bearded

The Bearded an old time string and rhythm band. They played to a full house at Maryville’s Tomato Head recently.

Admission is $10 at the gate.

Food and beverages will available for purchase.

Bring folding chairs and enjoy a night of great music!

We look forward to seeing you on Friday, Sept. 5 at The Shed!

The Shed is located adjacent to Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson & Buell (SMHD) on US 321 in Maryville, Tennessee. The Shed is an outdoor, covered pavilion with a full service restaurant that serves lunch and dinner on event days.

CAPPE (Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension, Inc.) is a state chartered non-profit organization.

We formed CAPPE in 2002 in response to a proposal to build a new 4-lane interstate highway through some of Blount County’s remaining agricultural land and the lower Little River valley. CAPPE members include farmers, professionals, educators, lawyers, blue collar workers, realtors, builders, musicians, artists, homemakers, small business owners, retirees and college students.

We believe this highway is not needed, wastes state resources, and will have negative impacts on the area along the route and on the quality of life in Blount County as a whole. We raised money through events and donations and hired an environmental attorney who helped us file a federal lawsuit charging the state Department of Transportation with failing to complete the required Environmental Impact Statement.

TDOT is now working on the EIS and CAPPE is continuing to monitor the process and participate in all public input opportunities. We have also provided TDOT with sensible alternative solutions to our local transportation needs (which will be exacerbated, not solved, by the proposed new 4-lane highway).

To read more about CAPPE, please visit www.discoveret.org/cappe

The meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, July 17th, at 5:30PM.

Here is the agenda.

The upcoming Pellissippi Place on the Oak Ridge Corridor has not been in the news much lately. The plans are in the works and the project is growing. If it is development they want, then development they will have. As citizens of this beautiful area, it is to our benefit to track the development to ensure it is held to a higher standard than most every other past developement project in Blount County.

The Pellissippi Place Riverwalk

As you can see, the plans show the attractive aspects of the R&D park.

Master Plan 1 calls for a riverwalk (think San Antonio, TX), a square with a fountain, residential, retail, and commercial development. Open space, trails, and walkways are included. There is also a reference to office space over the parkway (as in Pellissippi), which of course is not there and has not been approved.

Check out Master Plan 2 and the Land Use Districts.

Years ago, when the City of Alcoa was originally designed by/for the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), one of their guidelines was to have one acre of green space for every 100 citizens. "It was this vision which gave birth to Springbrook Park..." I don't know if we can expect this vision in the 21st Century. What I do know is we can insist new developement be designed with a vision of green space, trees, walkability, and aesthetics. It has been obvious that when money runs low, this vision is the first to be eliminated. As citizens of this beautiful area we should not let that happen. If they cannot afford the entire vision, they should not be allowed to proceed with any portion of the project.

One other thing, let's hope there are no plans to bring in industry like this at the East Tennessee Technology Park to Blount County.

When: Tue. July 15, 2008 5:20 PM

Just over a year ago Blount County residents turn out en masse to fight the sports complex. Link... Now we all have a real opportunity to let our voices be heard on how Blount County will look for generations to come.

Tuesday, July 15 at 6pm in room 430 of the Blount County Courthouse the BC Planning Commission is having a public workshop on the Policies Plan. This document guides the Planning Commission on setting regulations.

Read the text here Link... There are some really great things in this new plan that I would love to see kept in and then there are some items that frankly scare me especially in light of the Alcoa article as mentioned here Link... defining density.

Blount County as a whole, has the unique status of being a Preserve America County. The only county in Tennessee with this designation. That includes the entire county, not just Townsend.

Perhaps if we could call on the spirit of Frederick Law Olmsted and remember that where we place houses and roads today there will always and forever be houses and roads, more and more houses and roads. Crops can't grow on asphalt and once lost our historic buildings and sites can never return.

Written comments are accepted per the public notice that was in the July 4 edition of the DT.

There was some drama at the City of Alcoa Board of Commissioners meeting last night when a rezoning got postponed due to an apparent sunshine law violation.

Maryville Daily Times

Board OKs committee oversight of new school construction; advisory committee includes county mayor

Chattanooga Times Free Press:

The Chattanooga firm of Kinsey, Probasco, Hays has agreed to purchase a former Alcoa Inc. aluminum plant near Alcoa, Tenn., and redevelop the site into a downtown for the city.

"In the next six to nine months we should be in a position to begin development," said Jon Kinsey, former Chattanooga mayor and president of Kinsey, Probasco, Hays. "It is right at the entrance to the Knoxville airport and it is surrounded by two significant highways, so we feel it is an opportunity to really do something world class for that area and provide a new downtown for the city of Alcoa, which does not have one presently."

[..]

Mr. Kinsey said he expects the property will become a mixed-use facility and hold residential, commercial and office space.

The company has been involved in a couple of controversial Knoxville developments, including Market Square and the Candy Factory condos, although both are generally considered successes now.

When: Wed. June 4, 2008 6:00 PM

Via KnoxViews, the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization is holding a series of workshops to get public input on the region's long range transportation plan.

The TPO also has an online survey regarding priorities for the long range plan. Following are the workshop schedules:

They are holding Regional Mobility Plan 2035 Public Workshops.

The Blount County workshop will be at the Blount County Public Library, Wednesday, June 4. Meetings begin at 6 p.m. unless noted otherwise, and should last about an hour.

Daily Times

The Blount County Planning Commission wants to keep a scaled-down variant of the controversial Southern Loop proposal on the drawing board.

During a special called meeting on Tuesday, planning commissioners indicated that they wanted to keep the proposal for a two-lane bypass around the cities of Alcoa and Maryville in the text of the county Policies Plan.

Planners let it slip in a recent TDOT public hearing on the Pellissippi Parkway Extension that local traffic congestion improvements would only be realized if the southern loop is completed.

Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension explain the problem:

According to TDOT’s traffic studies, the PPE will produce marginal and short-lived improvements to traffic conditions on a few roads, and within 20 years even these limited improvements will have disappeared.

Becky White, whose firm did the traffic analysis for TDOT, said that this projection assumes the Southern Loop and other proposed new roads will be built.

[..]

Tell TDOT that they need to do credible traffic studies of the impact of the PPE on our existing road system – the road system that will be in place when the PPE is in use. Until this is done there is no objective data supporting the assertion that the PPE will alleviate traffic congestion anywhere in the cities or the county.

In other words, if the southern loop (for which other more desirable alternatives have been identified) is phased out of regional transportation plans, the PPE cannot be justified on the basis of relieving traffic congestion.

WATE:

The first phase of the project will require the demolition of three apartment buildings that sit adjacent to the east end of the school, across Cedar Street.

...There's also a long term plan that would take an entire block of homes on South Cedar Street, including Jeff Weaver's, but the city still doesn't have enough money to buy them.

Residents express concerns about uncertainties, getting a fair value for their properties, and more.

The City of Alcoa Utilities has added a $3 fee to resident's water bills to cover the EPA stormwater Phase II program requirements.

Permit requirements include system-wide erosion and sediment controls, pollution control, and public education initiatives. The stormwater utility will serve as an alternative to increasing taxes to meet the added expense of funding these requirements set by the federal government.

Probably a good thing and I suppose I don't mind paying the extra $3. However, keeping in mind I have not studied this in depth, I hope not that many businesses get credits while I, a resident, am not able to get credits.

Update: I called the City of Alcoa regarding residents that have two water meters, one for the house and one for watering the lawn. It sounds like they made a mistake in charging this fee on the second meter for watering the lawn. It sounds like they should have this handled and not charge this fee next month on the second meter.

The House conservation subcommittee voted against a ban on mountaintop removal mining.

Tom Humphrey files this report on the House subcommittee vote. Voting against the bill were William Baird, R-Jacksboro; George Fraley, D-Winchester; Joe McCord, R-Maryville; Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains; and John Tidwell, D-New Johnsonville.

Sen. Tommy Kilby, chair of the the Senate environment and conservation committee, has rejected Sen. Raymond Finney's call for a hearing and a vote. More on the Senate action here.

Decisions by the Knoxville Regional TPO influence TDOT planning and affect Blount County. They are seeking input for their long range plan. Go fill out this short survey.

This is the view from the school at Caton's Chapel in Sevier County. This is a crying shame. Fairview Angel--I would have posted this under your "Mountain Rape" entry, but I couldn't get the picture to upload.

This is a stunning reminder of development gone awry. If you stand at the school and look up at this mountain, it is nauseating.

That's what Joe Gallagher says. Commenting on the Children's home controversy, Joe says: "Pure and simple, the developers want the property for commercial use. The Mayor and Chamber (also Economic Development Board), as servants to the developers and bankers -- not the public -- are maneuvering to acquire the property."

He is also critical of the recent sale of the Highway Department property near Hamilton Crossing to the EDB for $3 million, who will in turn sell it to a Knoxville developer. Joe says "I wonder if $3-million is even close to the fair purchase price the County should receive. I believe the property should have been appraised by an independent firm with no ties to Blount County."

Maryville Daily Times

More than 500 people packed the auditorium at Heritage High School Tuesday evening for a public meeting on the proposed extension of the Pellissippi Parkway.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Supporters and opponents of the proposed Pellissippi Parkway Extension jammed the auditorium at Heritage High School Tuesday night for a public hearing on one of the most contentious issues facing Blount County.

WBIR

A standing-room-only crowd of several hundred people flooded Heritage High School's auditorium Tuesday night for the latest details on a proposed Pellissippi Parkway expansion project.

If you did not get to ask your question or submit your comment last night, here is the person to contact at TDOT:

Michael W. Russell, P.E.
TDOT
7345 Region Lane
Knoxville, TN 37914

or

P.O. Box 58
Knoxville, TN 37901

Phone: 865.594.2334
Email: Mike.Russell@state.tn.us

The Pellissippi Parkway Extension is a done deal. The heads of the five families (Blount Co. Mayor, Maryville Mayor, Maryville City Manager, Alcoa Mayor, and Alcoa City Manager) all support it. A massive Chamber of Commerce turnout arrived in Mercedes Benz and wool suits to support it. They are well organized, and shouted down the "antis" at several points.

We're here, will try to live blog if battery and broadband connections hold up and I can work this keyboard all scrunched over.

The Daily Times' editorial Sunday advocating the completion of the Pellissippi Parkway once again resorts to several Big Lies: "A lot of taxpayer money has, we think, been wasted in continued restudying the route just to please a small group of the county's 120,000 residents who oppose and seek to block it for personal reasons."

Actually the "restudying" is being done to please a federal judge who ruled that the initial "study" did not meet the requirements of the law.

The assertion that opponents are acting "for personal reasons" is also inaccurate and based on the same blind devotion to the highway that allows public officials to be in favor of it without knowing what effects it will actually have on the county. By far the majority of opponents of the highway do NOT live in or near its path.

And of course many of the people in favor of the road say they want it because it will make it easier for them to get to work. I guess that is not a "personal" reason. Nor, I guess, is it "personal" for developers and pavers and people who bought land near the first proposed route to favor its being built.

Opponents of the PPE have been very careful to tell the truth and ask for data. Supporters, on the other hand, seem to have different standards.

From the Maryville Daily Times, Maryville Mayor Joe Swann responds to Vulcan threatening the citizens of Maryville with an expensive lawsuit:

"This is a response to the charge that the city of Maryville is 'wasting' money in its lawsuit to prevent the expansion of the quarry owned by Vulcan Materials Inc.," Swann wrote in the letter. "It is the job of the city to enforce its zoning laws and to protect citizens from operations that diminish the quiet enjoyment of their homes and property."

I think the county's plan to choose my paint colors and window treatments for me is a violation of my private property rights: Link...

But just so long as they let me bulldoze the top of the mountaintop flat and take off all the trees so my view in all directions is not obstructed, as well as install security lights that burn all night, I'll go along with it.

When: Thu. February 14, 2008 8:30 AM

2/11/2008 notice of meeting

an ad-hoc committee of the blount county planning commission will
meet from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon in room 433 of the courthouse on thursday, february 14, 2008 to discuss possible ridge-top and hillside
development regulations.

Pellissippi Parkway Extension will not be good for Blount County. Please check out the analysis by The Raven Society here Link... and notice that it is Blount County (not Maryville and Alcoa) which stands to lose if it is built. In addition, there are alternatives that could actually help with traffic (which TDOT admits the PPE will NOT do) and which would not lead to higher taxes and more sprawl.

I challenge opponents of the road to say so on February 19 (or in writing by March 10). Saying so on this blog will NOT be part of the official record and will NOT HELP. The Chamber of Commerce is busy urging people to show up so if you care about this at all, BE THERE!

I challenge supporters of the road to offer evidence that anything in The Raven Society's analysis is incorrect.

Boy, Commissioner/Planning Commissioner Scott Helton doesn't miss a trick when it comes to helping out the Mayor's biggest contributors: (Link...)

This is like a big ole Christmas present to people who already received ill-advised RAC status. Note the key words "AND existing commercial development." (Emphasis mine.) There's a big difference between clustering commercial only at key intersections on 411S and at existing ad-hoc industrial parks/metal dumps all along the "scenic" highway.

The Planning Commission seemed to reach a consensus on language suggested by the Hunter Interests Growth Study to recommend clustering of commercial sites on U.S. 411 by zoning at key intersections and existing areas of commercial development.

County Commissioner Scott Helton didn’t want the language to just include key intersections.

“I just didn’t want us to be handcuffed down there,” Helton said.

The proposal had generated discussion about what direction was wanted for the development of U.S. 411 South.

“We have a desire not to have a strip mall all the way down the road to the county line,” Planning Commissioner Rick Brownlie said.

Yes, Heaven forbid we should limit ourselves to the recommendations we paid so much for.

No truer words were ever spoken, than by Bob Kidd re: the win of Jerry Cunningham in the primary for Mayor: (Link...)

"Tonight was a vote for pro-growth," said Kidd, who did not seek re-election. "Put that in your paper."