This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.thedailytimes.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.
Article published Dec 20, 2007 Blount County Planning Commission seeks reader input on scenic locations
By Joel Davis of The Daily Times Staff
The Blount County Planning Commission is taking the first step toward drafting regulations concerning ridge-top and hillside development to protect scenic sections of the county. You can help. Before the Planning Commission can consider the specifics of these regulations, it needs to determine not only what scenic views in the county need protecting but from where those views can be seen. This is where readers of The Daily Times come in. Planning Commissioner Rick Brownie has a question for each of you. “What do you see and where are you when you see it?” he said. The Planning Commission is taking a cue from the “Preferred Directions Report” by Saratoga Associates, part of a hillside regulation study commissioned recently by Sevier County that has ideas that can be applied locally. According to the report: “To begin protecting these important resources, one must first identify specific publicly accessible places from which the views of these hillside and ridges are enjoyed. Such places normally include scenic highways, walking trails, scenic lookouts, parks, historic sites and buildings, and canoe and kayak routes.” So, what views are important to you? Take a few moments and e-mail your thoughts to editor@thedailytimes.com or mail them to Scenic Views, The Daily Times, P.O. Box 9740, Maryville, TN 37803. The suggestions will be provided to the Planning Commission for informational purposes. A top 10 list of most suggested views will be also be published in The Daily Times. Please note that submissions will be edited for content. If you have strong feelings about any individual developments in Blount County, feel free to write a letter to the editor. A guiding principle of the Sevier County study, which can be found online at www.sevierlibrary.org/hillsides/, was that hillside development should not be completely prohibited. One of the most important recommendations is the principle that all development should be secondary to the surroundings. The Planning Commission is continuing to discuss the specific changes it wants to make to the county’s 1999 Policies Plan and other guidance documents.