Even though this was not a voting meeting, commission already had a letter prepared to send to city officials to oppose the annexation and rezone of the property. Every commissioner in attendance, signed the letter which was sent to Loudon officials the next day. Commissioner Quillen was absent due to the death of her father.

It is the hope of the commission that Loudon officials will listen to the effected property owners and commission and reconsider any attempt to annex the property.

See Letter Below.  

Re: Annexation of Property located on Dry Valley Road

Dear Mayor Harris, Vice-Mayor Tim Dixon and Members of City Council:

This letter is written on behalf of the Loudon County, Tennessee Board of Commissioners ("Board of Commissioners"). The Board of Commissioners objects to the City of Loudon’s plan to annex and rezone the Dry Valley Road Property ("the Dry Valley Road Property") identified as Tax Map 047 Parcel 18.00, and owned by Dry Valley Realty, LLC. The Dry Valley Road Property is currently zoned A-1 Agriculture-Forestry, and the proposed rezoning within the City of Loudon is to M-1 Light Industrial.

The Board of Commissioners opposes this annexation and rezoning for several reasons. The property is not contiguous to the current municipal limits of the City. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-51-104 ("A municipality . . . may propose extension of its corporate limits by the annexation of territory adjoining to its existing boundaries.") Further, the properties surrounding the Dry Valley Road Property are in the County and zoned both A-1 Agriculture-Forestry A-2 Rural Residential. As such, rezoning the property in the City of Loudon as M-1 Light Manufacturing constitutes "spot zoning" in violation of Tennessee law. See Fallin v. Knox County Board of Commissioners, 656 S.W.2d 338 (Tenn. 1983). In Fallin, the Tennessee Supreme Court defined "spot zoning" as "a process of singling out a small parcel of land for use classification totally different from that of surrounding area, for benefit of owner of such property and to the detriment of other owners." The Court went on to recognize that under Tennessee law, "spot zoning" violates Art. XI, Section 8, of the Tennessee Constitution.

The Board of Commissioners urges the City of Loudon to reconsider the annexation and rezoning of the Dry Valley Road Property. The citizens of this community do not deserve to have an industrial or manufacturing facility located adjacent to their neighborhoods and churches.

Accordingly, the Board of Commissioners respectfully requests the City of Loudon to not annex the Dry Valley Road Property and rezone it to M-1 Light Manufacturing.

Sincerely yours,

The Loudon County Board of Commissioners