Citizens for Sustainable Growth

09/14/2022

Thank you for those that came and spoke. The courthouse was overrun with realtors and developers. We really needed a stronger presence, but again thank you to those that were able to make it and voice your opinion. The paper did a decent job of covering the story, however they should have mentioned the strong realtor presence from knox co…they should not have been allowed to speak since they were not Blount County citizens. Although, I don’t think they captured Scott’s sarcasm as well as they could have when they quoted him Lol. Please continue to contact your commissioners.

The approximately 20 speakers at a public hearing held Tuesday night, Sept. 13, were split. About half told the Blount County Board of Commissioners that setting lot size minimums for

09/01/2022

We need people in seats for this public hearing and we need everyone for this proposal passing to contact commissioners and tell them why you support this proposal. This is one of the two suggestions that the ad hoc committee came up with to help slow overdevelopment. This could be a huge temporary measure, until our third party infrastructure is done, to persevere Blount before it’s too late. I will send out a more detailed message later in the week to our email list. Please mark your calendars and start preparing your speeches Sept 13th 6:00pm at the historic courthouse in room 430.

08/04/2022

Don’t forget go and vote in your local elections today! Polls are open till 8pm.

06/23/2022

Tonight’s panning commission meeting is at 5:30 in the historic courthouse room 430. If you can make it please go. I will be attempting to close early so that I can go or I will be watching via zoom. Here’s the staff memo about the the 11 resolutions.

04/28/2022

You can join via zoom I am currently watching. Many resolutions 19-30 were passed during the last commission meeting. I am hoping the planning commission voted yes and let’s get the momentum going and keep the pressure on our planning commission.

04/19/2022

Please attend this weeks county commission meeting in room 430 of the historic courthouse at 6:30pm on April 21st. Items 19-30 were added in last weeks workshop meeting. These resolutions are directly related to issues we are fighting for. The link below has more information on these resolutions. I encourage anyone to speak out in support of these resolutions and to thank the commissioners that co sponsored them. Hope to see everyone there.

https://blounttn.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=917195&GUID=EA8CBC6A-3B87-471E-AFA1-3838393DF92E

04/08/2022

Hey everyone! Check your inbox for April’s call to action for members of CSG. I am happy to say with our new website launched we now have a little over 90 people on our email list. Let’s keep growing!

Also, be sure to read the last of the email where I have a link to United Way’s program called ALICE. It’s about affordable housing… which goes hand and hand with our issues of overdevelopment and fiscal responsibility. Enjoy the cartoon it’s a little too real for me. 😳

03/16/2022

Urgent Call To Action:

Hello everyone,

We've just been informed about the Peery Farm development in Wildwood/Rockford. The request to the Alcoa Planning Commission is to annex and re-zone. The Peery and Norton properties are currently zoned R-1 and governed by Blount County subdivision rules, which would not allow dense development.

CALL TO ACTION: We need you to attend the Alcoa Regional Planning Commission meeting tomorrow, Thursday, March 17 at 5:30 at the Alcoa Municipal Building on 223 Associates Blvd. to speak out against the possible annexation of this property.

Agenda:
https://www.cityofalcoa-tn.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03172022-294

If the annexation plan passes, then it will go to the Board of Commissioners meeting for a vote on Tuesday, April 12 at 7pm, and we will need many more people to show up for that meeting.

This is a fast-moving issue. Here are some things we know:
This is prime farmland along the river.
Traffic on Sam Houston and Wildwood is already a problem.
Alcoa believes its Urban Growth Boundary extends from Sam Houston Schoolhouse Road along Wildwood Road to the river and includes the Norton property to be annexed. Thus there could be sewer to the Peery farm through the Norton property. Several people are trying to find out if this is actually true…it is harder than you would think to find a real, official map of the Urban Growth Boundary. We should assume they are correct.)
It is not clear why the request for re-zoning is for Limited Restricted District “1” for the Norton property and Limited Restricted District “1” and Open Space District “OS” for the Peery property.
It is not certain that Alcoa officials support or want this development.
Students could go to Alcoa schools (or Blount County ones) and Alcoa would have to adopt a Plan of Services for the annexation.
It would cost more money than it would generate in property taxes. (See Cost of Community Services for Blount County below)
Most people do not know about this, so we need more time for public comments for such an extensive plan to reshape the county.
We know this is late notice for tomorrow's meeting and that a lot of us have obligations during that time of day. However, we need to have a LARGE crowd there, even if not everyone speaks. Please know that if you can show up, you will be representing a lot of very concerned Blount County citizens and we can grow this movement. If you can attend, please report back to me with details.

Thank you!
Cat Griffith-Benson
Citizens for Sustainable Growth

We also have a new website www.preservingblount.com I encourage you to look at it via desktop as the mobile does not have a menu yet…its not finished, but its live. Also, if anyone attends please update me I am unable due to a multitude of issues here on the farm.

For more information to develop talking points, please visit some of these resources:

Alcoa Zoning

Cost of Community Services Study for Blount County conducted by American Farmland Trust in 2005. There are a lot of good points about how when they build residential the county LOSES money. A link is on our new website under the informational tab.

"Residential land uses created a deficit of $22.3 million, which was offset by the other two land use categories: $20.9 million from commercial and industrial and the $1.4 million surplus paid by farm and open land. The Blount County COCS findings demonstrate that a balance of land uses is necessary to ensure fiscal stability."

New research from First Street Foundation analyzes the economic impact of underestimated flood risk to properties throughout the United States. Current understandings of expected flood risk and its potential damage continue to underestimate the full extent of flood risk in many parts of the country. This is problematic as these understandings of flood risk are used to price insurance premiums in the market by estimating property-level average annual loss (AAL). Maryville is named as one of 10 municipalities with the greatest growing loss from 2021 to in 2051 Tennessee's stats start on page 102.

Citizens for Sustainable Growth is a grassroots organization. We are concerned with the rapid and environmentally irresponsible development within our community. We want our county and city's to work together and develop an environmentally, fiscally, and economically responsible growth plan.

02/21/2022

Hey everyone! So I’m really hoping to have a spring event and a very strong panel put together before summer. Sorry for the radio silence, but my cattle dog (now retired) has to have surgery soon. I’ve been in furbaby momma mode. However, I’ve still been working away for this cause and have had some amazing support from our members. So let’s keep sending those letters and make some noise! It’s election year let’s rattle their cages.

One last thing please be respectful of the Blair brothers. We have heard some news that they are being harassed. I also recommend individuals to stay off their property. They don’t know who is harassing them so if you know anything let the BCSO know. I hope to have some more information soon on the overall development of the county not just the Pate farm.

Also, here’s an adorable pic of my broken ride or die…hopefully she’ll be back to mobility soon.

12/26/2021

From our family to yours we wish everyone a happy holiday season. Here’s hoping 2022 brings some luck our way. 🥂