At its Jan. 16 meeting, the Jefferson County Commission will decide what to do with a small community that wants to live in a different county.
For several months, the people in Parrotts Chapel have been attempting to get the county commission to fully explore whether it should be allowed to split with the county and join Sevier County. The people in Parrotts Chapel feel as though the area has been neglected and is in harm's way due to a lack of investment in infrastructure by the county.
"We are cut off from the rest of the county. When TVA built Douglas Dam, the lake separated Parrotts Chapel from the rest of Jefferson County. Back then, there were not many people on this peninsula. Now there are a lot of houses and residents from people who deserve the same access to services as the rest of the county," said Steve McSmith, a Parrotts Chapel resident who bought his property south of Douglas Lake 27 years ago.
McSmith said allowing the community to join Sevier County is a common-sense solution.
"Our mailing address is Sevierville, Tennessee. We shop in Sevier County. There's no way to drive to our house without going through Sevier County. However, we're actually in Jefferson County. And that means all of our services have to come from Jefferson County, which is a long drive and a difficult thing for us and for the people who work for the county. When we have an emergency, the response time can be 45 minutes or more," he said.
Trash must be taken by residents to the solid waste facility in Jefferson County. The facility in Sevier County is closer and its entrance features a large sign warning it is not for use by residents of Jefferson County or Cocke County.
Elementary students ride the bus more than an hour one-way to attend school on the other side of the lake when there's an elementary school in Sevier County four miles away from Parrotts Chapel.
"There are only 26 students who ride the bus in Parrotts Chapel, but there's a state rule that says no child will have to ride the bus more than 90 minutes one-way to school. With all the slow road and stops, we have to send two school buses to make sure we meet that requirement," said Jefferson County Commissioner Terry Dockery.
Dockery is one of the commissioners who has openly supported allowing Parrotts Chapel to leave the county, even though it would mean a loss of around $800,000 to $1 million in property tax revenue. Dockery says that loss is offset because the county would no longer have to pay to provide the distant community with the same services as the rest of the county.
"Our EMS director said the ambulance response time is nearly double to Parrotts Chapel. Just to build and staff an EMS facility in that community would cost around half a million dollars. If the vote to allow Parrotts Chapel to leave fails, I'll be making motions to build a EMS facility," said Dockery.
Many in Parrotts Chapel concede it will be difficult to convince two-thirds of the Jefferson County commissioners to approve letting the community leave for Sevier County. If it passes, the county would pay for an extensive site survey of the land. Then the move would have to be approved by Sevier County and the state legislature.
If Jefferson County will not agree to a split, McSmith says it is time for the county to spend the money to solve the problems that have people in Parrotts Chapel feeling neglected, ignored, and in harm's way.
"We will not go away. We will step up our efforts to get the services all county residents are entitled to," McSmith said.
