KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County leaders may soon seek help from the Tennessee Secretary of State after proposed growth plan changes resulting from the Advance Knox initiative were voted down. The changes would have guided decades of development decisions and were voted down by Farragut leaders.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said Monday that Knox County would declare an impasse — a formal kind of declaration that says leaders in the county can't agree on growth policies. He cited a state law that guides how cities and towns can implement comprehensive growth plans.
Under the state code, the growth plan's coordinating committee usually can recommend a different plan. Mike Moyers, the Knox County Deputy Law Director, said the county did not need to reconvene the coordinating committee because the county was going through an amendment process, instead of drafting an entirely new plan. Jacobs also said he wouldn't reconvene the committee because "there's really no point."
"The city is okay with this, our commission's okay with this, it doesn't change anything in Farragut," he said.
State law also says by declaring an impasse, the county effectively starts the remediation process. After an impasse is declared, county leaders can ask the Tennessee Secretary of State to offer a new method to resolve disputes between Farragut and other local leaders.
After an impasse is declared, the Secretary of State would need to appoint a "dispute resolution panel" that consists of up to three people. Those people would be appointed from "administrative law judges employed within the administrative procedures division" and have formal training in dispute resolution and mediation.
If mediation doesn't resolve disputes, state law says the panel can propose a non-binding resolution that the county and municipalities can consider. If that is also rejected, then another panel would be created with new people, with the purpose of creating and adopting a growth panel.
"The panel may consult with experts in urban planning, growth and development, and may commission or contract for additional studies and reports on population growth and projections, land utilization and needs, environmental impacts, and the development and production of maps adequate for the use of the panel in mediating a dispute or in adopting a growth plan," state law said.
The growth plan voted down by Farragut resulted from the Advance Knox initiative, a period of around two years when leaders collected opinions from the community about their priorities and how they wanted the county to grow.
"That was a two-year effort. It cost the county about $1.2 million to develop this amendment to the growth policy plan," said Jacobs during a press conference on Monday. "I was pretty disappointed in the vote because we had everybody at the table for this process."
Jacobs said that the Advance Knox plan would not have directly impacted Farragut, and the county tried to accommodate Farragut in the plan. He also said a Knox County commissioner who covers Farragut approved of it. Farragut leaders who voted against the plan did so due to concerns about traffic on Northshore Drive, according to Thursday's vote.
Jacobs also said leaders plan to have a special meeting about their motivations behind voting against the plan.
"One of the most disappointing things is one of the three aldermen who voted against the amendments didn't participate in that process," he said. "They didn't partake, and yet they choose to vote against this."
Moyers said in 2000 the county first considered a growth plan. He said in that process, it also had to go through a mediation process. He said no estimate was available for when the process would be complete now.