Working with Loudon Co. at Dixie Lee in the cards?

Alan Sloan farragutpress.com

The importance of Town of Farragut officials working closely with Loudon County government, in consideration of Dixie Lee Junction commercial and residential growth, was brought up during the monthly Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday morning, April 4, in Town Hall.

“The development that occurs on the Loudon County side of the line is going to have a lot of impact on our side of the line (in Farragut),” Robin “Bob” Hill, former Farragut Municipal Planning Commissioner chair, said during the meeting. “Conversely, we need to be working with them and thinking about what they’re doing so that what we do and what they do is compatible.

“Customers and people coming (in) are not going to recognize (where) the Town line is between them,” he added. “… I would urge the Town to strike up a strategic planning relationship with the governing body that controls the Loudon County side, and let’s work together on this because in 10 years you won’t be able to tell the difference.

“… I don’t think that area around Watt Road is going to be a neighborhood-commercial [potential zoning district] very long. It’s going to be major commercial 10 years from now.”

The whole idea of possibly creating a new neighborhood-commercial zone in Farragut — where commercial properties could be located adjacent to a given neighborhood, actually include residential dwellings, limit commercial buildings to 25,000 square feet and include more greenspace — is an attempt “to be proactive rather than reactive,” Vice Mayor Ron Pinchok said.

However, he added, “We want it to be what we want it to be, not dictated by another county or somebody else.”

Hill replied, “As much as you’d like to do that, we don’t control that part of the land on the Loudon County side.”

Pinchok countered, “We want people when they enter Farragut to know it is Farragut.”

“I’m a little more global than that,” Hill countered, “… I want that to be a workable commercial district that’s integrated and looks like a place where you want to go.

“… To consider our own purposes, solely, is going to be a mistake,” he added.

David Smoak, Town administrator, said the Town requires sidewalks on the Farragut side along Kingston Pike approaching Dixie Lee Junction, “but Loudon County does not, and they just stop right there on the line.”