County puts development on hold

Loudon County Commission voted Monday to halt future planned unit development in unincorporated areas.

Commissioners Bill Satterfield and Van Shaver motioned and seconded, respectively, to place a six-month moratorium on PUDs. The measure passed 7-3 with Commissioners Julia Hurley, Matthew Tinker and Kelly Littleton-Brewster opposed.

“I felt like that on those PUDs we already had the planning commission gave us their recommendations, they already had a meeting on it, they put everything in place,” Littleton-Brewster said. “I felt like that we did a good job the first time on the rules and regulations and we should stick with those instead of every time there’s an issue brought up we go back and put another six-month stop to it.”

Current regulations allow for 2.5 housing units per acre for PUDs. The last six-month moratorium was in 2016.

The decision comes after commissioners recently declined the rezoning of about 78 acres for a 197-home subdivision in the Glendale area near Greenback.

John Cook, the proposed developer and owner of Cook Bros Construction LLC, has since filed a complaint in chancery court for a declaratory judgment against Loudon County.

“I’m going to be active in my district and I hope the rest of the commissioners will to get some feedback from the people that live there,” Satterfield said. “I pretty much know how the majority of the folks in district three feel about it. It’s not anti-growth. Our (planning and zoning study) committee has been in place, we get some input, we’ll see what we can do. We may come back and say, ‘It’ll be fine the way it is,’ or whatever it is I wouldn’t see any big sweeping changes from what it is.

“Just when I look around and see how everything is just growing and growing and growing,” he added. “There’s some people who want that, and that’s fine, and then there are other people that don’t.”

Satterfield pointed to Blount County, which in September forwarded a resolution to the county’s planning commission designed to regulate rapid development.

With the moratorium in place, the county’s planning and zoning study committee comprised of Shaver and Commissioner Adam Waller will meet at 5 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Loudon County Courthouse Annex to begin discussion.

“The community, the builders, the Knoxville Area Realtor Association, whoever wants to come,” Shaver said. “We’ll take input from everybody.”

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the community to come out and voice their opinion of what they want to see their community end up like,” Waller added. “Growth is coming, what it looks like, in my opinion, should be up to the citizens that live here. I really encourage them to come out, and we need to talk to the utilities and the developers are welcome to come and give their 2 cents and the planning commission. It’s really about the citizens who live here and want their community to become.”

Loudon County Chamber of Commerce President Rodney Grugin presented commissioners with a resolution opposing the moratorium that was approved Monday by the chamber executive board. According to the resolution, PUDs are a “necessary tool to achieve cost effective and fiscally responsible growth within the county,” and the county has “more restrictive guidelines for PUDs” than surrounding counties.

“A moratorium on these types of developments will further negatively impact sectors of our membership that rely on positive housing growth, such as Realtors, home builders and other businesses operating in the housing industry,” according to the resolution.

Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, which represents more than 160 Loudon County Realtors, in conjunction with Home Builders Association of Greater Knoxville, sent a letter to commissioners Friday expressing opposition to the moratorium.

The letter, which was signed by builders association CEO Ashley Burnette and Realtor association CEO Lyle Irish, noted the moratorium would be “effective in slowing development” and could “drive up the cost of housing and lead to deteriorating housing affordability.”

“Data show the supply of available housing significantly lags demand and the demand for new housing remains high,” according to the letter. “This dynamic helps to explain why the median sale price in Loudon County has risen more than 29% year-to-date and at a faster rate than many surrounding counties, which is itself the result of similar development moratoria enacted by Loudon County in previous years.”

Pay raise given

Commission moved forward with a $16 per hour starting wage for county employees effective Oct. 1.

The move boosts the starting salary for full-time employees from $25,500 to $33,280.

Littleton-Brewster and Hurley motioned and seconded, respectively, which passed 8-2. Shaver and Commissioner Henry Cullen opposed.

“First of all, there hasn’t been anything done in 31 years,” Littleton-Brewster said. “They had a committee that looked at step raises for the elected officials to put in place. They couldn’t agree on it, so therefore something needed to be done. Our employees were making $12.26 an hour. They could walk out of here and go Hardee’s, Big Lots, they could anywhere else and walk and make $14, $15 and $16 an hour. I feel like our employees are good servants for Loudon County and we need to at least get them to the per capita income for Loudon County. That’s has been my goal. I’m happy and I’m excited for the employees now.”

The salary hikes add $266,288 to the county budget and impacts 53 employees.

“I just think we need to look at it in a bigger context,” Shaver said. “This had not been on anybody’s radar; it just kind of dropped on us tonight. I would have much rather it gone back to the budget committee and let’s evaluate it. We’re spending 230-something-thousand dollars, we didn’t know where we’re getting the money from, that sort of stuff. I just thought it would have been better if we could have taken it back and maybe improved on that some.”

In other news, Loudon County Commission:

• Tabled consideration of electronic voting equipment until further consideration at the October workshop.

• Authorized member renewals to the Animal Control Authority Advisory Board, Ethics Committee and Industrial Bond/Development Committee.

• Passed a resolution to oppose the federally proposed vaccine mandate.

• Renewed a Humana contract for county retiree insurance.

• Approved collecting 50% of Adequate Facilities Tax for new home construction up front and another 50% before certificate of occupancy.

• Agreed to not require county employees get the COVID-19 vaccine.

• Passed a resolution acknowledging the county’s population as certified by the 2020 census and authorized retroactive pay to county officials as a result of population change. The increases will cost the county an additional $150,631.

• Approved a resolution authorizing temporary reductions in county employees’ contribution to health insurance.

• Approved a resolution accepting Loudon County’s allocation of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

• Approved amendments to County General Fund 101, Public Libraries Fund 115, County Drug Fund 122, General Purpose School Fund 141, School Federal Projects Fund 142 and Central Cafeterias Fund 143.