The Daily Times

Microbreweries will be allowed to locate and sell beer in Maryville under a new city regulation.

An ordinance allowing permits to manufacture beer for on-premise and off-premise consumption at a brewery was approved on first reading Tuesday night by Maryville City Council.

If the ordinance passes second and final reading in September, microbreweries would be able to sell glasses, growlers (recyclable glass bottles) or cases of beer. They would not be required to sell food.

Brewers would have to produce at least 200 barrels of beer a year. There are 31 gallons in a barrel.

Under state law, an on-the-premises brewery can sell up to 25,000 barrels per year.

Christopher Snyder, of Blue Tick Brewery, wants to locate a brewery in the city.

In other action, council approved an ordinance on first reading to prohibit speechmaking and other demonstrations at certain busy intersections.

The city lost a court battle when it arrested a street preacher in 2008 for demonstrating without a permit. The court of appeals ruled the ordinance unconstitutional because it was too broad and vague.

According to Maryville City Manager Greg McClain, the city is moving “to limit where people can select to engage in speeches. These roads carry the most traffic, account for most traffic accidents in the city and traffic moves at higher speeds.”

Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp said they have supporting data that these are the intersections that have “a high frequency of accidents and the potential of people getting injured.”

“It’s a distracting activity,” City attorney Melanie Davis said. “People can do it anywhere else in the city.”

No gatherings or demonstrations will be allowed within 250 feet of the center point of any of the eight busiest intersections in the city.

They are West Lamar Alexander Parkway intersections with West Broadway, U.S. 129 Bypass, Foothills Mall Drive and Court Street; Foch Street at U.S. 129 Bypass; West Broadway at Foothills Mall Drive; East Lamar Alexander Parkway at Washington Street and Sevierville Road at Washington Street.

Reappraisals set

Property reappraisals are set for 2014, and city officials recall that the Blount County tax assessor raised the cost of the 2011 reappraisal almost $70,000 to $103,489. The city had to take the money out of its fund balance. “The increase between assessments was so large it caught everybody by surprise,” McClain said.

Council approved a memorandum of understanding with Blount County to pay $25,873 annually from fiscal 2012 through 2014. The final payment in fiscal 2015 will be adjusted according to assessment costs determined in that year.

Reappraisals, which involve 12,000 parcels of property in Maryville, are conducted every four years.

Passed on first reading was an ordinance that allows two beer permits to be granted for 60 days at the same location.

This is for cases in which the beer business is in the process of being sold or transferred.

The change will allow for a 60-day period of overlay while a business can transition but not lose 30 to 45 days of sales waiting for another beer board meeting.

Other business

Council also approved:

• Waiving the competitive bidding requirements and allowing the purchase of four substation relay panels from the recommended bidder, Jenkins Relay & Control Inc. at $72,547 for the Grandview Substation.

• A lease agreement with Maryville College for continued use of college property as a waste recycling center, which is located across from Blount Memorial Hospital. Fee is $10 for eight years.

• A contract with Rock-Tenn Converting Company for hauling and disposing materials from the city’s recycling centers.

• Closure of an unopened alley between 102 and 106 S. Sixth Street on final reading.

• On second and final reading, gifting Blount County Children’s Home with $21,762 for back taxes and Clerk and Masters fees.

• Amending personnel rules and procedures for a 5 percent increase for promotions; including water plant mechanics and new traffic signal operations in the policy providing compensation for on-call work; eliminating the vacation buy-back provision, changing fire personnel work hours from 24 hours to add 10 minutes per shift for accrual tables; outlining employee uniform responsibility; and including in political activities policy language specific to the federal Hatch Act.

• Authorizing participation in the TML Risk Management Pool Safety Partners Loss Control Matching Grant Program. This is for safety equipment purchases.

• Appointing Mary Beth West to the Ocoee Regional Library Board, term to expire July 2015. Mayor Tom Taylor said the regional library in Athens maintains the software for local libraries, has online catalogs, does continuing education for staffs and is the source of most of the Blount County Public Library’s reference material.

• Declaring as surplus K-9 Spike, who is being retired due to health considerations. The police dog will be given to current handler Kevin Fuller.

• Declaring as surplus and authorizing the disposition of 1988 Tarrant and 1991 Old Dominion leaf vacuums.