(WBIR) A local activist group has filed a lawsuit to stop the proposed Midway Business Park, saying it will endanger the water underneath the proposed East Knox County site.
The move comes two months after county leaders officially paved the way to get the project up and running.
The complaint, filed in Knox County Chancery Court, says the more than 300 acres just off I-40 near Strawberry Plains sits directly above an aquifer that the nearby residents use and any intense development will jeopardize it.
“We all drink out of that aquifer and they don’t care,” said Bob Wolfenbarger, president of the 8th District Preservation Association. “It will destroy the aquifer no matter what they do there.”
The non-profit group filed the lawsuit Friday against the Development Corporation of Knox County, the county, the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission and the Knox County Commission.
The lawsuit notes that the area is composed of “high undulating terrain containing numerous sinkholes” and is “unsuitable for large-scale development, as reflected in the East Knox County Sector Plan of 1995.”
On Tuesday, Wolfenbarger told WBIR 10News that “nothing in the area has changed.”
“This just happens to be a bad site and they don’t want to believe it,” he said.
MORE: Copy of the complaint
Knox County Law Director Richard “Bud” Armstrong declined to comment, saying his office received a copy of the lawsuit late Monday and he hasn’t had time to review it.
Todd Napier, president of the Development Corporation, said: “We’re very disappointed. We continue to have some individuals who are working to delay or stop a project that will ultimately be to the benefit to Knox County. We will vigorously defend the actions that have been taken and move on.”
The Knox County Commission in December voted to change the sector plan that governs the zoning for the property to allow for an industrial park.
Officials with the Development Corporation, which bought the land in 2006, say the project could attract a large-scale manufacturer or distributor, and bring in $200 million in wages.
Business leaders stress that the property is among the last large tracts available that can be used to promote business park developments.
The lawsuit argues that the commission’s move to change the plan is “unconstitutional, illegal, null and void,” since the changes are “inconsistent with the general plan for Knox County,” so officials should not move forward with the project.
“Landowners will suffer irreparable harm if the MPC and the county are allowed to proceed with the amended sector plan and rezoning in that the rural nature of their neighborhood will be destroyed forever,” the lawsuit states.
The Development Corporation has long sought to build a business park in the area, but prior to last December has failed to garner much support, including an attempt in 2010 when the commission shot down a proposal.
During the past couple of years, however, officials have started warming to the idea.
Last year county leaders, including Mayor Tim Burchett, began pushing for the project and revved up a public relations tour.
Although the Commission agreed to change the sector plan, that is only the first step, and any development - if allowed to continue - is still years away.
The Development Corporation still has to come up with a specific plan, including elements such as lighting, landscaping and signage, that also must be approved.