NCA neighbors,

We hope you are well and safe – as we are.

Just a little update. As you recall, we have had good success in court. From the outset the plaintiffs have vowed to appeal. In light of the COVID situation the judge allowed them through May 6th to do that. We now have notice they intend to do so.

Today we heard from Hugh Nystrom, Knox County Commission Chairman and also from Kevin Murphy of Knox County Planning Alliance informing us that County Commission has shifted funds from a mothballed project to help address the Bluegrass Lake flooding problem. A $500,000 line item transfer was approved by commissioners.

This will help but does not guarantee a solution to the flooding as the cost for a fix is much higher. Complicating the question is that the City of Knoxville is the owner, through annexation, of the land where a pumping station might be installed.

Dear friends and supporters,

We so hope you are all well and we know you are making the best of this forced downtime.

Our leadership team is still working – with caution and distance. Those of our team in business and science are greatly challenged. Still, they are giving time to NCA.

Dear Northshore Corridor Friends,

We have again heard from Clayton Wood. Mr. Wood has once more accused us of lying.

If you are a regular reader you know that we have worked to profile the Commission candidates of the fourth and fifth districts in the Knox County Republican primary and to share that information here.

A Farragut homeowner has asked us to share this letter.

COMMISSION DISTRICT 5 PRIMARY ON MARCH 3, 2020

A great deal has changed in Farragut since my family moved here in 1976 and the city was incorporated in 1980. The community life, school quality, traffic, and parks have achieved a high mark of excellence. My children, who were the contemporaries of the children of a generation of leaders in the community such as the McGill‘s the Dick’s and many others, are in their 40s now and have their own families.

What has not changed is the dumb, unplanned, residential development we see in rural Knox County. Just open your eyes to the chaos, traffic congestion, flooding, overcrowded schools, and out-of-place high-density residential we see on South Northshore Drive, in Harden Valley and elsewhere. The cumulative impact on infrastructure and services is being ignored

On March 3 we will make a choice between incumbent, John Schoonmaker, and challenger, Clayton Wood, in the Republican primary for District 5 Knox County Commission. The winner in this primary will go on to win the general election.

Your generation is in charge now – so act like it. What you have in Farragut did not just happen. It was born out of a battle with Knox County over zoning, cronyism and backroom deals. You have lived a nice life under the protection of a State Growth Policy Plan law that largely prevented residential developers from outrunning infrastructure and services in rural Knox County – but you and residents of un-incorporated Knox County are now in danger of losing that protection.

I have attached, by permission of CompassKnoxville (our local in-depth online newspaper focusing on Knoxville and Knox County),a recent article comparing and contrasting the two candidates for District 5,

Please read it and ask yourself which of these men HAS represented, and WILL best represent your family, Farragut and rural Knox County, with energetic diligence, honesty and deep knowledge of both zoning issues and the inner workings of Knox County Government. Which man has proven his wisdom and integrity as demonstrated by the long-term trust he has earned from dozens of homeowner associations? Which man will take an unpopular stand when it is best for Knox County? Which man will work to champion industrial and commercial development which brings outside money into Knox County? Which man will work to calm excess high-density residential developments, which are possible to be securitized and/or sold to absentee money center investors? Which man will be obligated to the group which has so richly funded his campaign ( https://knoxcounty.org/election/candidate_info/index.php )?

It is generally accepted that, when the projects are complete and the developers are gone with their profits, our citizens will be left to pay with increased taxes and utility fees the substantial shortfall between the cost of the utilities and services gifted to the development and the considerably smaller amount of property taxes the county will receive over the 50-year life of the project. Yes, a residential development by itself makes our developer friends richer and the county poorer.

Please note that one candidate is a staunch supporter of County Mayor Glen Jacobs’ Amendment gutting the Knox County Grow Policy Plan. This is the very same amendment voted down 4 to 1 by the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen on 1/23/3020 and approved only by a split vote at both Knox County Commission and Knoxville City Council. If Mayor Jacobs destroys the existing Growth Policy Plan, we are told that it will take 1 1/2 years for Knox County to construct their own Growth Plan – and with zero input from the City of Farragut. in the interim, It is not clear just what, if any, rules would regulate development in rural Knox County.

It is best to decide at the ballot box rather than in court because, even if you win, no matter how badly Farragut has been injured, lawsuits cost over $100,000 and Knox County will not pay your legal fees.

Now that your generation is in charge, Please DECIDE WISELY.

John Gulley
Phone: (865) XXX-XXXX
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Primary 2020: 5th Commission District

In Farragut and Concord, an incumbent with roots in homeowners’ groups faces an energetic and well-funded challenger.

BY JESSE FOX MAYSHARK • FEBRUARY 11, 202

CLAYTON WOOD (L) IS CHALLENGING INCUMBENT JOHN SCHOONMAKER (R) IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

Knox County’s 5th District is in the densely populated southwestern corner of the county, taking in most of the area west of Pellissippi Parkway between the Tennessee River and Interstate 40.

Growth and infrastructure are on the minds of many West Knox voters.

It includes all of incorporated Farragut, as well as the Concord area stretching along Northshore Drive by the river. It is among the most affluent areas of the county, with median household incomes ranging from the mid-$60,000s up to nearly $140,000 in some areas near the Loudon County line.

John Schoonmaker has represented the district on County Commission since 2015 when he was appointed by Commission to serve out the remainder of Richard Briggs’ term after Briggs was elected to the state Senate.

Schoonmaker, whose political roots are in the powerful Council of West Knox County Homeowners, easily won re-election to a full term in 2016. His initial partial term doesn’t count against him under the county’s term limits law, so he is seeking a second full term this year.

He is facing a vigorous Republican primary challenge from political newcomer Clayton Wood, a pastor, and lawyer who runs the nonprofit organization Thrive Lonsdale and has raised a lot of money, including from some GOP heavy-hitters. The winner of the primary will face Democrat Kimerly Peterson in the Aug. 6 general election.

Schoonmaker: Eyes on the Roads

Schoonmaker was already a familiar face in county civic life when Commission appointed him to fill out Briggs’ term in 2015.

He settled with his family in the 5th District in the 1980s, after moving to Knoxville for a job. He worked in sales, first for a furniture manufacturer and then later for a binocular manufacturer.

His road into local politics began like many before, through involvement with his local neighborhood group, in this case, a homeowners’ association. From there he eventually ended up as an officer of the Council of West Knox County Homeowners, a group that has been advocating for area residents since 1971. He was president of the organization for 12 years.

“We helped homeowners and homeowners’ associations navigate through Knox County government,” Schoonmaker, who is 65, said in an interview at Vienna Coffee House in the Regas Building. “We dealt with a lot of zoning issues that were coming around.”

As a homeowners’ representative, he was deeply involved in the long process of formulating the county’s Growth Policy Plan, which was mandated by state law in the late 1990s. The plan, which had to be approved by Commission, Knoxville City Council, and the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen, has been in the news again in the past year as County Mayor Glenn Jacobs has sought to amend it.

Growth and its consequences are much on the minds of 5th District residents, who see daily traffic back-ups on roads from Northshore to Campbell Station.

“I think our biggest problem now is our road infrastructure,” Schoonmaker said. He noted that it took three years to get a $7 million improvement to Canton Hollow Road through the county’s capital spending plan, and that’s just one of many needs in and around the district.

“We have got to do something with Campbell Station interchange north to Hardin Valley, but the problem is, there’s been no action taken,” he said.

Schoonmaker said he’s not anti-growth or development, but he thinks the county has to do a better job of balancing growth with existing infrastructure and resources.

“I’m a firm believer, as most people are in Tennessee, that you have a right to sell your property,” he said. “The next part of that is, it’s got to be within the guidelines of what it’s zoned for. If a development is zoned for three homes per acre, and it has been that way, then that makes sense to me. But what happens now is the developers are coming in and saying they have to have five. Well, then again you’re back to the infrastructure.”

Schoonmaker often votes on the side of homeowners when there are zoning disputes with developers. Recently, for example, he reversed course on a provision he had originally supported to allow a microbrewery into a Neighborhood Commercial zone. He said he was concerned that a late-night bar could create a disturbance for nearby residents.

He has sometimes ended up voting with a coalition of commissioners in support of Law Director Bud Armstrong in Armstrong’s legal disagreements with Jacobs. But Schoonmaker said he’s not part of any faction, and he scoffed at the idea that he is beholden to Knoxville Focus publisher Steve Hunley, a staunch Armstrong supporter. “He doesn’t own a newspaper in the Farragut district,” Schoonmaker said of Hunley.

He is active in the Tennessee County Commissioners Association and chairs Commission’s Government Affairs Committee, which often places him in a liaison role with the county’s state legislators. If re-elected, he said he would continue pushing for a bill at the state level he has been working on for a few years, which would return a portion of the state fee imposed for sales tax collection to local cities and counties.

He is also eager to see the results of the state’s new approach to collecting and distributing online sales tax, which Schoonmaker believes will be a boon to Knox County. He thinks the county should consider designating new revenue from online sales to a special infrastructure fund.

“Say that new portion should go towards engineering and public works, whatever we need to do,” he said. “It shouldn’t just be, let’s throw it over here and spend it for whatever.”

In his Jan. 31 financial disclosure, Schoonmaker reported that he had raised no money for his re-election. He had $1,245 on hand from prior funds.

Wood: Following a Calling

In contrast, Wood reported raising $15,425 in last month’s financial disclosure. Donors included Haslam family member David Colquitt, developer Scott Davis and former school board Chair Doug Harris, as well as investor Jordan Mollenhour, Wood’s campaign treasurer.

Wood graduated from college at the age of 19 and sometimes it seems like he’s barely slowed down since. A conversation with him at First Watch on Lovell Road was wide-ranging and fast-paced.

He grew up in Sevier County’s Wears Valley, where his parents ran — and still run — Wears Valley Ranch, a Christian children’s home and school. His father is a pastor with a daily radio show on SiriusXm.

After Wood’s early graduation from the University of Tennessee, a high score on the LSAT entrance exam was enough to convince him to try law school.

“I borrowed a pencil to take the LSAT,” he said with a laugh. “My mom actually signed me up for it. I was a senior English lit major.”

He attended Washington & Lee University in Virginia, where he nurtured an interest in constitutional law. This was partly thanks to a friend of his parents who became a professional mentor: attorney Jay Sekulow, who has been in the news a lot lately as one of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers. (He helped lead the president’s defense in the just-concluded Senate impeachment trial.)

After law school, Wood said, he worked in various capacities for Sekulow for 10 years. He started as a sort of office assistant and took on duties that over time included writing briefs for major cases.

“Jay’s won a ton of Supreme Court cases, I was involved in a few of them,” Wood said. “I loved it.”

He helped Sekulow open an office in Nashville, which is where Wood met his wife, Danielle. They now have five children, ages 3 to 10.

A stint with a tech company in Atlanta followed, and then Wood’s career took an unexpected turn. Partly because of his parents’ experience running the children’s home, he was recruited to work in international children’s care, advising organizations and orphanages around the world.

“God sent me to do that,” Wood said plainly. He traveled extensively, often in poor countries in Africa and Asia. “It was just, over and over, going where I didn’t think I was going to go, where I really, in my flesh, didn’t want to go, and then seeing that God was using that time in a really beautiful way.”

From that job, it wasn’t much of a stretch to Thrive Lonsdale. Wood was already volunteering at the Christian organization, which runs after-school and summer programs for low-income students in the Lonsdale neighborhood.

He took the reins as executive director in 2012, when the organization was struggling to maintain a $200,000 budget. Now, he said, it has a $1.2 million budget and 16 full-time employees, and it serves 180 children in Lonsdale and in a smaller program in Parkridge.

The ministry offers homework help, snacks and Bible study, with programming tailored to all grade levels from elementary to high schools. In his eight years with Thrive, Wood said with satisfaction, “We’ve had no kids arrested from our program.”

His civic engagement came initially from all the contacts with local officials he made in the course of his work in Lonsdale. Although Thrive receives no public money, Wood is active as an advocate for the neighborhood.

County Commission first piqued his interest more from a legal than a pastoral standpoint. He was bothered by Law Director Bud Armstrong’s lawsuit challenging the county pension system; Wood supported Jacobs’ efforts to dismiss the suit.

“If you want to know one of the ways we could save money in our county, it’s by not suing ourselves,” Wood said during a Commission candidates’ public forum at the News Sentinel last week.

He also supports Jacobs’ efforts to amend the county’s growth plan, which he said would lead to more efficient, less sprawling development. In talking to 5th District voters, he said he’s gotten a good sense of their priorities.

“Low taxes, good schools and infrastructure,” Wood said. “Those are the consistent themes that people talk about.”

He adds a shout-out for another county amenity: “The library system is just a jewel, and I love it,” he said. “My kids literally every week are in our libraries. Every single week.”

One thing Wood said he is not running to do is be an evangelical voice on Commission. Although he spoke strongly in favor of religious release time at the Knox County school board’s December meeting, Wood said that was because he thought people were misconstruing the legalities of the issue.

“I’m not eager to make that a big platform for county government,” he said of his pastoral work. “Part of that has to do even with job (recruitment). Corporate culture is pretty hostile to Christianity, and will increasingly be. It’s not the right place and time. It’s like, my calling is over here, my nonprofit doesn’t take any money from the government. On the other side over there, I think the government has important roles that are vital and matter a lot.”

Judge Davis affirmed her ruling.

Today we were in court again as Judge Davis heard the request from Safe Harbor Development and Knox County that asked the judge to amend her own ruling.

Thanks to many thoughtful people contacting our State Senators the bill to eliminate the county Growth Plan has been sent for study to TACIR (Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations). Senator Briggs told his fellow senators that the matter is more complex than at first thought and it merits more study. The committee (Local and State Government) voted to ask TACIR study the matter and make recommendations.

Many thanks to all of you who contacted our senators.

Followers –
Please take a look at this enlightening article from today’s Compass.

When the County mayor’s plan to weaken the Knox County Growth Plan by amendment failed, a pro-development commissioner suggested a new approach.

The hour was running late at last Tuesday’s work session of the Knox County Commission when the body turned its attention to agenda item 56: “Discussion item regarding the process of Knox County having their own Planning Office/Board.”
How can Knox County best prepare for and guide its future growth?
The issue was raised by Commissioner Brad Anders, who represents the fast-growing 6th District, home to Karns and Hardin Valley in the northwestern corner of the county. He was talking about possibly changing the way the Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission is structured.
“I think we need a board that has the county in mind,” Anders told his colleagues. “I think we should always think regionally, but sometimes we’ve got to think for ourselves.”
The conversation Tuesday night was brief, with no particular resolution. Anders said he planned to meet with county Law Director Bud Armstrong to review legal options, which he would bring back to Commission.
But it raised questions about how Commission can best respond to issues that most of its members have repeatedly cited as major concerns: updating planning countywide, making sure that infrastructure is able to accommodate new growth, and balancing a push for more development with the protection of rural areas and natural resources.
Kim Frazier, a longtime advocate for better planning and infrastructure in Hardin Valley and a founding member of the citizens’ group Knox County Planning Alliance, said in an email last week, “I am open to hearing and considering their thought process behind the suggestion of splitting the Planning Commission, as long as they are willing to consider that the structure of the planning body and the plans that are produced by the Planning Commission may not be the problem.”
A Joint Commission
What was previously called the Metropolitan Planning Commission was established in Knox County in 1956, under a state law that enables the creation of regional planning commissions.
Since then, the agency has served both the city and county governments, with a 15-member Planning Commission made up of eight citizens appointed by the county mayor and seven appointed by the city mayor.
The agency is funded by annual contributions from both the city and county, along with user fees and federal grants (which primarily fund the regional Transportation Planning Organization). You can see a budget breakdown here.
Its staff prepares long-term general and sector plans for all parts of the city and county, with the exception of Farragut, which created its own Municipal Planning Commission after incorporating in 1980. The staff also reviews subdivision and development plans and requests for rezoning, and makes recommendations on them to the Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission’s recommendations in turn go to City Council and County Commission, either of which can (and sometimes do) override the planning body.
The state’s three other large urban counties have variations on the same arrangement. Metro Nashville has a unified Planning Department, in keeping with its combined city-county government. Shelby County has a Land Use Control Board with 10 members, five each appointed by the mayor of Memphis and the Shelby County mayor. And the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission is nearly identical to Knox County’s set-up.
In a follow-up interview to last Tuesday’s discussion, Anders said he thinks the current planning body is more oriented toward the city than the areas outside it.
“Every time we ask why they’re doing something, they say, ‘Well, we refer back to the city,’ or, ‘This is what the city does,’” he said.
But he said he was less interested in creating a completely separate agency than a separate planning commission made up only of county appointees. He suggested, for example, that there could be a nine-member body made up of one appointee from each County Commission district.
Anders and fellow Commissioner Randy Smith have been outspoken about wanting to roll back the state-mandated Growth Policy Plan that currently imposes development limits on designated rural areas. They argue that it is actually encouraging sprawl by prohibiting denser development where it makes sense.
But Anders said his goal is not just to allow more development everywhere. “I want a pro-county planning commission, not a pro-developer planning commission,” he said.
Smith made a similar argument Tuesday night.
“I know a lot of people look at me and they think I’m the ‘Build everywhere’ guy. I am not,” Smith said. “I am for smart growth. And we need to take charge of our own destiny to make sure we can provide that to the citizens of this county for the next 10 years, and the next 20, and the next 30.”
Growing Problems
Not everyone agrees that the planning agency is an obstacle in that effort. On Tuesday night, Anders expressed frustration with two issues outside the planning body’s control: the county’s efforts to loosen restrictions under the Growth Policy Plan and its decision to not include rural areas in a newly created “Planned Development” ordinance, that would allow developers some leeway in overriding existing zoning.
But the Growth Policy Plan is mandated by state law, not the Planning Commission, and it was the Town of Farragut’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen that put the brakes last month on County Mayor Glenn Jacobs’ proposal to loosen it.
And Gerald Green, executive director of Knoxville-Knox County Planning, noted that both planning staff and the Planning Commission had recommended including rural areas in the Planned Development ordinance. County Commission itself voted to remove them, at the request of members of the Knox County Planning Alliance.
Green also said that issues on the Planning Commission rarely break down along strictly city-county lines.
“Often when there’s a split vote, it’s some county appointees on either side and some city appointees on either side,” he said.
Commissioner John Schoonmaker, whose 5th District includes Farragut and Concord just south of Anders’ district, said last week he hadn’t had time to dig into Anders’ ideas. (He’s busy running for re-election in the March 3 Republican primary.) But he said the issues could maybe be addressed at the agency’s staff level, by having some planners specifically designated to handle and think about growth issues outside city limits.
“Even if you had a couple planners who just did county, and a couple planners who just did city, I could see that,” he said.
Green said that logistically, his staff could probably serve two different planning commissions, if the county elected to go that route. They’re already used to administering the separate city and county zoning ordinances.
But he said what the county really needs is an updated General Plan and a clear sense of where it wants to go, in terms of its growth and infrastructure.
“I think what they really need is a vision for the county,” Green said.
That has also been the position of the Knox County Planning Alliance. Alliance member Diane Montgomery, a member of the Northshore Corridor Association, said of Anders, “Shouldn’t he be conferring first with the other parties involved to see if there is another, more effective and cost efficient path forward — for example revising the Growth Plan maps -— together, as has already been suggested by the Farragut aldermen?”
Abbey Harris, a spokeswoman for Jacobs, said the county mayor didn’t have a position on Anders’ suggestion of a separate county planning commission, “but is open to any discussion regarding planning.”
Next Steps?
Anders said he would explore the legalities of changing the organization of the Planning Commission.
It appears that it would require amending the interlocal agreement between the city and county governments that governs the planning agency. There would probably also have to be some level of state approval.
Christina Magráns, a staff attorney with the City of Knoxville, said in an email that the agreement can be changed by a vote of both City Council and County Commission. But, she added, “It is important to note, though, that if the County wanted to dissolve the current Planning Commission and create a new one, the State Department of Economic and Community Development and the State Local Government Planning Advisory Commission likely would have to review and approve the change.”
Meanwhile, one thing that is clear and uncontestable about growth in Knox County is that it’s happening.
In the 2010 U.S. Census, the county’s population was 432,226. This year’s Census will provide a definitive update, but estimates based on sample surveys in the intervening years put the current count at about 465,000 — the equivalent of adding a town of 30,000 people, the size of Oak Ridge, to the county during the past decade.
Current projections for future growth prepared by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research estimate the population to clear a half-million people by 2030 and 540,000 by 2040.
Those trends could be affected by any number of things, from economic downturns to natural disasters to worldwide plagues, but assuming they continue on their current tracks, the county faces a few fundamental questions: Where will they all live? And what impact will they have on the resources and infrastructure of the surrounding communities?
In addressing those, Frazier, of the Planning Alliance, said, “I think that all perspectives should be considered including the long history of decisions to ignore and or dismiss the guidelines and recommendations set forth in the plans; the idea that changes or formations of ordinances could also provide desired outcomes such as mixed use and clustered development; agricultural areas could benefit from higher density allotments with specific use determinations; and that county planning affects both city and county residents.”
She added that she didn’t think any of that would necessarily require structural changes of the kind Anders is proposing. “I believe that under our current leadership we can effectively determine processes that take into account the best interests of all Knox County residents,” she said.

Many comments from NCA followers express frustration – a sense that those in power are not serving Knox County citizen needs.

THE REAL POWER IS WITH THE VOTERS. Please go and cast your vote.

County Commission and Planning meetings are broadcast on the public access channel. All meetings are open to the public. County websites announce the meetings in advance.