November 21, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Commission may decide Monday night, November 22 whether to transfer ownership of a portion of four county roads near the Smithville Airport over to the City of Smithville.
The reason for the move would be to give the city control over these four roads, Allen Street, Shady Drive, Second Street, and Parkway Drive, which surround a 13-acre site under consideration for city annexation belonging to Larry Hasty. But since city and county leaders began considering the request two months ago, a new concern has been raised by the city’s consulting engineer who recently sent a letter to Mayor Josh Miller urging the city to not take any action (annexation) that might interfere with the airport’s Runway Protection Zone (RPZ) or hamper future extension of the airport runway. It remains to be seen if the consulting engineer’s advice and or public opposition expressed by residents in the neighborhood will have an impact on the decision by either the county commission in transferring the roads or city council in annexing the property.
Hasty’s request for annexation has already been before the city planning commission and received a favorable recommendation and now goes to the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen for a public hearing on Monday, December 6 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall prior to the regular monthly meeting that night at 6 p.m.
At a previous meeting, city leaders put conditions on the annexation request if it were to be approved.
“This is the property that joins the Airport Park and is a potential development of about 40 homes by Larry Hasty,” said Mayor Miller. “It does come with some conditions: As long as the county turns over portions of Allen Street, Shady Drive, Second Street, and Parkway Drive; Also our planning commission recommended that our engineer either design or inspect the infrastructure once it is put in; The next condition is that it has to be on gravity flow and not for a sewer pump system because if that were to happen every house on the site would need to have a pump and over time that would have to be turned over to the city and we do not need to get into the expense of pumps. The last condition is that the property be zoned R-2 residential,” added Mayor Miller.
The DeKalb County Regional Planning Commission on Monday, November 8 considered the request to transfer county ownership of the roads surrounding the property to the City of Smithville and voted 5 to 2 to recommend approval to the full county commission which will consider taking final action on the request Monday night, November 22. Several residents in the neighborhood against the request showed up at county planning commission meeting to express their concerns and presented a petition signed by 104 people in opposition.
Some of the same residents showed up again Thursday night, November 18 for the County Commission’s informal meeting of the whole at the county complex to again speak out against the proposal.
Charles Wonder of Big Hurricane Road said the county transferring these roads to the city is a bad idea for several reasons.
“We have a number of concerns ranging from safety meaning there is going to be a lot more traffic in that area and with traffic will be safety issues such as speeding and accidents. These are not wide roads. You can’t put 40 homes in this parcel. Figure at least two cars per home. That’s 80 cars and 40 families. You can’t put that amount of density in a small area and not expect to have a considerable increase in traffic. There has been speeding, accidents, and signs have been knocked over. Speeding signs have recently been introduced on the streets so safety concerns are a major issue there. There is also considerable flooding in this area. This is a wetland and the wetland does have a lot of wildlife there. This area tends to flood when it rains. If you develop this area where there is a pond in the middle of this parcel this water is going to go somewhere else. More specifically it’s probably going to go around to all the homes that are right next to it. Then what is going to happen? The infrastructure and the roads will continue to deteriorate if you develop this. It will only hasten the deterioration of the roads. Our other concern is the airport operations. That property is right in line with the airport operations and the runway. I don’t think Smithville or our county needs this. I think you, the county commission, being our voice can put an end to this before it even goes to the city. I would hope our voices are heard and that you listen to the people who it will impact the most who live in that area,” said Wonder.
Ronnie Garrison, also a resident of Big Hurricane Road, echoed Wonder’s concerns. “My concerns are like Charlie’s. It’s the safety and the traffic. I also own a hobby farm, about 15 acres and my pasture is about 100 yards from this swamp. Whenever you develop this and get the water out of there it is going to go somewhere. I had rather it not be in my pasture. I have spent a lot of money there cleaning that place up. I am all for development and I have nothing against the developer but I think this is something our community and district don’t need,” said Garrison.
“I would like to reiterate everything they have said (Wonder and Garrison), “added neighborhood resident Kenny Stults. “The people who live there like the area and it will be a total mess from the flooding if that (development) is brought in there. People like it the way it is now,” he said.
“I live right across the street from the pond, “said Ricky Holloway of Shady Drive. “The road commissioner came out there right after a heavy rain and he informed me the only way he could figure out to fix that road was to raise the road which meant I would have to raise my yard. The roads just can’t handle the traffic. I have lived there for 28 years. I love my neighborhood and DeKalb County. I just like the peaceful quiet street I live on and I would like to maintain it that way,” said Holloway.
“I agree with them (Wonder, Garrison, Stults, and Holloway) on everything they have said about the traffic and the floods,” said Bandy Liggett of Parkway Drive. “There are kids there (neighborhood) but because of the airport the city took the park out and kids can’t practice ball there anymore so I don’t see how the houses could be built there either,” said Liggett.
Larry Hasty, owner of the property, who also addressed the county commission Thursday night said there is no need for his neighbors to be concerned.
“I am a little bit puzzled by the community’s response to what I am proposing to do because this 13-acre tract has been designated for residential property for decades. I have owned this property for 15 years now since 2006. In 2015 I brought the property before the county planning commission and got their blessing on a residential development project as far as their blessing could be given. It was not really a final blessing. It was a plat and they told me if I was going to develop it the way I wanted to I would need to go to the city and get sewer. Obviously, the tract needs sewer to be developed. For the past six years I have been working with the city off and on to get sewer to the tract. We have talked about a grinder pump sewer system. We have talked about pump stations. I wanted to pump into the forced main on Allen’s Chapel Road with sewer, the one that has been there for years. They (city) didn’t want me to do that. They held my feet to the fire about having gravity flow sewer which is a big undertaking for this piece of ground,” said Hasty.
“Some of the objections are that septic problems exist in the area. I won’t have any septic tanks on this piece of property. On the flooding issue. Part of this 13-acre property, maybe two and a half acres, is wetland. The pond that is in place will remain as a retention area for runoff water. If I develop this property properly like I would with an engineer we won’t be dumping any water on anybody. We will control our property within the project and let it flow out the natural way it flows now,” Hasty continued.
“At the last meeting, the county planning commission sent this to the county commission for a vote with their blessing to have these four roads that surround my property taken over by the city. The city has issued me a right to develop the property if I annex it into the city. That is the only way they will serve me sewer. I have been working on this for a long time,” Hasty said.
“As far as the airport is concerned, I have worked with the City of Smithville. I have signed an overhead easement for the aircraft and I would be limited on the height that I could build the houses on the development. I am a little bit perplexed that there is really this much objection to property that was already going to be developed at some point anyway. There is not going to be anything near as nice as what I am going to put on it if it stays in the county and has to be developed some other way. With no zoning in place, it could be anything. What I am trying to do is put a nice residential project on it like has already been approved,” added Hasty.
“As far as traffic, that is always going to be with us but Big Hurricane Road and Allen’s Chapel Road have their own entrances out to Cookeville Highway and going down Parkway Drive through that neighborhood there is another outlet to Cookeville Highway. There will not be 80 cars a year traveling up and down through there. It will be a nice residential neighborhood. I would really appreciate it if the county commission would not get caught up an emotional outcry,” said Hasty.
Road Supervisor Danny Hale, also at the meeting, said if the city is to annex the property, then it should take ownership of the roads around it.
“I think one of the stipulations from the city is that if they annex this property, they want to own the roads. If they do annex this property and do the development then I think they should own the roads which amounts to about three quarters of a mile all the way around it because I don’t do (maintain) city roads in the county and they (cities) don’t do county roads. I think they need to own the roads if they do annex,” said Hale.
The DeKalb County Commission will meet in regular monthly session on Monday, November 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center.
The agenda is as follows:
Financial Reports;
Budget Amendments;
New Business- Discuss recommendation of the planning commission to transfer ownership of a portion of Parkway Drive, Allen Street, Shady Drive, and 2nd Street to the City of Smithville;
Consider and act on naming Fayette Drive as a private road; Consider and act on naming Blue Moon Ridge as a private road;
Consider and act on a resolution accepting the DeKalb County Hazard Mitigation Plan;
Consider and act on a resolution authorizing DeKalb County to join the State of Tennessee and other local governments as participants in the Tennessee State-Subdivision Opioid Abatement agreement and approving the related settlement agreements;
Any other business properly presented;
Notaries;
Public comments