Blount County leaders will soon reconsider the government’s guidelines for growth.
Amid frequent, public and often emotional conversations about local development, the Blount County Board of Commissioners in 2022 decided to rethink its years-old growth strategy. The government also contracted with a private company to suggest revisions to that strategy.
Today, April 25, members of the county’s planning commission are scheduled to hear a presentation on development from Inspire Placemaking Collective, a firm that’s partnered with the government to update the older plan.
Inspire staff last year held in-person workshops and an introductory meeting to better understand the community consensus on growth. The firm also publicized an online survey and an interactive map, allowing residents and others to offer input on how the county should develop.
Throughout the process, residents answered questions including: Should there be more space for agriculture? Is walkability important to you? What kind of industries would you like to see in to Blount County?
And like local officials today, Blount residents in the coming months will be asked to think more about how they’d like the county to grow and change and whether they’d prefer to see it place tighter controls on development. Documents from Inspire indicate the firm will ask for further input from the public before the new growth plan is finalized.
Feedback
According to a summary of online engagement with the new planning process, 584 people responded to the web survey, and 294 commented on the map.
Asked about their preferences for future development, most of those who replied to the online survey — 66% of them — said that they hoped to see more agriculture, and many — 43% — said they’d like future residential growth to take the form of single-family houses. A little more than a third of respondents said they hoped for more developments with a mix of usage types — combinations of residential and commercial growth.
“Leave this area alone! We do not want subdivisions. Stop destroying our precious farmland!” one respondent wrote in a comment on the interactive map. New subdivisions — especially those that take the form of denser developments, rather than single-family home neighborhoods — have proven controversial.
Opponents, both residents and elected officials, have argued that the addition of subdivisions has strained county resources and threatened Blount’s rural character. A commenter wrote, “Safe, quiet, and rural. The traffic has increased so very much it’s truly unbelievable. The roads are no longer sufficient for the population we have right now.”
Proponents of some denser developments have said that new limitations on growth could worsen a local housing affordability crisis and leave county natives with few choices besides moving elsewhere.
And some respondents likewise spoke of their concerns on affordable housing. “We need affordable housing. Those of us that have lived here our whole lives can’t compete financially with folks moving here with their pockets full of money. Their income is significantly higher as their cost of living has been higher elsewhere. I can sell my house for double what I paid for it but where do I move?” another respondent wrote.
Similarly, a respondent wrote, “Green space means parks and open space for the community, not private lawns. Slowing growth by increasing sprawl and making housing out of reach for the average home-buyer or renter would exacerbate existing problems.”
Changes
Some members of the county planning commission have already declared a preference for reducing development density in some current zoning districts.
County Commissioner Nick Bright, who also serves on the planning commission, said during a March meeting that he’d prefer an option for a new growth map that involved decreasing density in some areas. Planning Commission Chairman Darrell Tipton also indicated he preferred an option that would reduce density in some parts of the county, though he said he had reservations about certain details concerning sewer line placement and the inclusion of some major highways.
That density decrease, said Inspire’s Sarah Sintra Gould in the same meeting, “was a huge factor and a big goal” among the plan’s developers. After talking with county residents and taking in their online feedback, she said, it was important, “to make sure that we’re preserving a more rural feel in certain parts of the county.”
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