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Article published Apr 26, 2007 McCord's bill changes building height restrictions in Knox County
By Joel Davis of The Daily Times Staff
State Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, is sponsoring a bill meant to change building height restrictions on a single portion of Pellissippi Parkway in Knox County.
There has been some community concern that the bill would affect restrictions currently in place on all scenic highways in Blount County, but McCord said this is not the case with his House Bill 2186.
"It only deals with one issue in Knox County," he said. "I know there was a lot of concern about Blount County and (the bill's possible effects on U.S. 411), but it has nothing to do with that.
McCord said he carried the bill as a favor for State Rep. Park M. Strader, R-Knoxville, whose health problems had prevented him from doing so.
"If there is an amendment that has anything to do with Blount County, I'm not going to carry the bill," he said. "It's not going to have a detrimental effect in any shape form or fashion on Blount County"
The Raven Society community group has been watching the bill for some time, Secretary Doug Gamble said.
"We noticed it about the same time we noticed the (proposed) sports complex on Highway 411," he said.
A version of the bill passed the Senate Transportation Committee on March 18. On Wednesday, the full Senate passed the bill by a 29-0 vote.
The amended bill would only lift building height restrictions along the Northshore Drive section of Pellissippi Parkway.
The original bill included language to delete a section of the Tennessee Code Annotated that sets building height limits along scenic highways, but that portion was removed when it was amended in the Senate Transportation Committee.
It was that aspect of the original bill that attracted the attention of the Raven Society, Gamble said.
"It seemed like a curious bill in the sense that it was originally drafted kind of broad," he said. "We didn't quite know the purpose of it."
The House version of the bill remains with the Public Transportation and Highways Subcommittee.
Gamble remains skeptical about the need to change the existing law.
"I would be concerned about it because it seems like a silly idea to whack away at the scenic highways," he said. "We shouldn't just be screwing around with the laws every time somebody wants to do something."
The amendment also restates previously approved changes to the law that removed height restrictions along Pellissippi Parkway within the corporate limits of Alcoa, McCord said.