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

Here is the agenda.

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.

Letter to the editor: Building Commissioner's authority unchallenged

I ask those who seek agritainment privileges to pursue your goals through moral and legal channels provided by Blount County and the state of Tennessee and to respect the rights of your neighbors to disagree.

Read the whole thing.

Back in 2005, Joe McCord's dad, Keith McCord wanted to put a lot of condos in near a wetland at Crosscreek, there on Carpenters Grade Road and Sandy Springs.

The Maryville Board of Zoning Appeals turned it down.

Keith McCord sued them.

Meanwhile, Joe McCord puts in some legislation to de-list some 3,000 waterways and it seems a little obvious that this would benefit a development that would disturb a wetland, if a claim can be made that it is a wet-weather wetland.

But in today's paper, there's an article that Joe McCord's Legislation, which he had energetically defended before, has been "watered down" now to just cleaning up the Nolichucky River and another article that Chancellor Forgerty has "set aside" the BZA's decision in Keith McCord's favor for his condo complex. Strangely, this happened Feb. 1st and we are only now hearing about it.

If you want to go see how this series of coincidences play out, there's a meeting tonight:

The Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 5 p.m. today for a briefing from attorneys about the ruling.

"Concerns raised by citizens relative to traffic is a matter that may be reviewed and considered by the Maryville Regional Planning Commission at the next requested approval phase of the property development ... if permitted by the applicable laws and regulations," the ruling states.

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."

This is a sad state of affairs and, so far, no one is listening. Except for, of course, the residents of the mobile home park being subjected to the loud noises of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners.

What I find fascinating is McSpadden, the owner of the mobile home park (trailer park as written in the paper), is trying to get assistance from the City of Maryville and Blount County to alleviate the problem. Kudos to Mr. McSpadden.

According to The Maryville Daily Times,

...a loud public address system and music, smells and the “toxic” smoke from the recent burnout the Harley dealership sponsored.
...McSpadden said. “I had one lady come out during the event and she thought her house was on fire. The whole house smelled liked burning rubber ... her clothing and everything.”
...Some residents are elderly, some already have respiration a problems and some have young children. They don’t need this. The more people that are there, the higher the noise. It’s getting worse every weekend.”
... noise is not only on weekends but through the week. He told council sometimes he has to get up to go to work at 4:30 a.m. after being kept awake by motorcycles being revved up until 1 and 2 a.m.

McSpadden said “sometimes people can’t even hear their TVs in their houses.”

How did this happen? How is it the City/County governments did not consider the surrounding area when approving the dealership in the first place, then allowing loud, obnoxious parties nearly every weekend? Why can't/don't those governing Blount County/Maryville think before they act? Haven't they heard of zoning? Haven't they heard of noise ordinances? Apparently they've heard about them, they are just not sure what to do about them.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 7pm, Maryville College

Location update from comments: Chilhowee Club, Maryville, approx. 2 blocks from Maryville College. From S. Court St. take W. Goddard Ave.; turn left onto Cate St. Parking is on the left.

CAPPE is one of several local organizations co-sponsoring a presentation by Gerry Cohn, Southeast States Director for American Farmland Trust (AFT). AFT is a national non-profit organization that has worked for decades to help individuals, communities, organizations and local and state governments develop programs to strengthen and preserve farming and agricultural land.

The Blount County Planning Commission approved Overlook at Montvale Phase I, pending completion of some erosion controls and other construction items.

The proposal to increase rural R-1 density within the urban growth boundary apparently fizzled and did not come up for a vote. But, the Planning Commission did vote to update the R-1 zoning to include exceptions for convenience stores on a case by case basis.

Follow the links for more details from the Maryville Daily Times.

P.S. Money quote in the MDT from County Commissioner Brad Harrison: "We need to look at really helping our people who are willing to invest in Blount County. We need to bend over backwards and try to help them instead of trying to treat them as criminals."

The Maryville Daily Times reports that the Blount County Planning Commission will meet Thursday.

Final approval of Overlook Phase I on Chilhowee Mountain is on the agenda. According to the article, the developers have settled all the lawsuits with Save Chilhowee Mountain and Planning Commission Chairman Jim Scully has inspected the site work and says it is OK.

Also on the agenda is a zoning change that would increase density to three residential units per acre in Rural R-1 zones that are inside the urban growth boundary and have sewer service. According to the article, Planning Director John Lamb developed the new regulations at the direction of the Planning Commission. Planning Commissioner Bill Proffitt expressed concerns about adequate roads with the increased density.

As you may recall, the was quite a bit of controversy about the project on Chilhowee Mountain. The Save Chilhowee Mountain group brought many concerns to the public's attention, but now says they are working with the developer on land use regulations and have setup a watch dog project to bring water quality and other issues to Harmony's attention.

The group had previously sued the developer for environmental violations and sued Blount County for not enforcing them, saying "The future of Blount County needs a little more scrutiny than the rubber stamp that was given" to the project.

Another controversy involved the purchase of Camp Montvale from YMCA for the project and concerns that the historical camp would be shut down and developed. This was settled when the developer agreed to lease the property back to Friends of Camp Montvale and allow them to continue operating it.

It appears the developer was successful in fighting off various citizens groups and the handful of public officials concerned about growth and mountaintop development, and has managed to turn them into allies. We hope they make good on all their promises and everyone remains as happy as they appear to be today.