KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knox County developer is offering a $1,000 reward for information about who vandalized heavy equipment used to prepare long-vacant land for a small commercial center that neighbors have vehemently fought.
Sometime over the weekend of Aug. 26-29, someone spray painted inside the cabs of several pieces of equipment that were grading the 2.5-acre site at Bexhill Drive and Ebenezer Road, a Knox County Sheriff's Office report shows.
The equipment belongs to Ramsey and Sons Excavating, hired to do the work on behalf of owner and developer Holrob-Bexhill LLC.
A Ramsey employee told WBIR the person deliberately spray painted inside the cabs of the equipment over computer screens. Damage is estimated at about $10,000.
The employee told WBIR, "We're trying to make a living. That's it."
Someone also pulled up grading stakes that had been placed for surveying purposes, Holrob's president and owner Mark Shipe said, requiring another survey.
Anyone with information is asked to provide it to the Knox County Sheriff's Office or to Holrob.
Some area residents have objected to any commercial development on the site, surrounded by homes and fallow for decades. Neighbors said the site had become popular as a play site and gathering site.
Shipe, however, said the original developer's plan always envisioned some kind of commercial use for the land. That's why it's been vacant.
It sat for sale for 15 years, but no one bought it, he said, including area homeowners who could have preserved it as they wished.
Holrob-Bexhill bought the land in August from Home Federal Bank for $700,000, records state.
Last year, more than 2,500 people signed an online petition to try to stop a plan to put a small strip commercial center on the site.
More than 100 others left comments with the county planning commission when the land was up for rezoning in 2021, arguing Ebenezer Road already carries a lot of traffic and that adding more at the commercial site would create greater hazards for schoolchildren who attend nearby Blue Grass Elementary School.
Shipe said as the owner of the legally zoned land he has a legitimate right to put commercial on the site, which will include a Sam and Andy's Restaurant and a taco and tequila bar.