Plan would change maximum combined building size limit

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

The Blount County Commission is considering whether to delete the maximum combined building size limit for developments in Rural Arterial Commercial zones.

The changes will be considered for approval during a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 430 of the Blount County Courthouse.

Current regulations limit the combined building size in Rural Arterial Commercial zones to 40 percent of the property or 10,000 square feet.

Building Commissioner Roger Fields said the amendment, which deletes the 10,000 square-feet maximum, is simply a clarification.

"It came from some confusion that number created," he said. "If you had a certain situation, the 10,000 square feet didn't allow you to get the 40 percent."

For reference, a 10,000-square-foot building is roughly the same size as the old Blount County Health Department building on Lamar Alexander Parkway.

There are also infrastructure limits to the size of buildings in these areas, Fields said.

"Septic is always going to determine the ultimate size of any structure," he said. "They would still have to get their septic permits to handle all the waste."

Raven Society Chairperson Kathleen Skinner said the change is a bad precedent.

"The issue is how and where growth is accommodated," she said. "The myth is development is the problem. In fact, development is the solution.

"It's the pattern of development that is largely the problem when it contributes to urban sprawl. There is a better way for us to grow."

The hard limit makes more sense, Skinner said.

"Large buildings should be located within the county's industrial parks where the infrastructure exists," she said. "There is no sewer out there (in the rural areas)."

The RAC zones only exist in a few places in the county, Fields said.

"They allow for a certain level of commercial development along arterial roads of county beyond the growth boundaries of the city," Fields said. "The regular Commercial Districts normally end around the growth boundaries of the cities. The RAC would go the length of those arterial roads."

There is at least one Highway 321, near the Rocky Branch Exit, and about five scattered along Highway 411 South beyond the 129 Junction, Fields said.

The county zoning regulations only allow the RAC designation to extend 500 feet from the road frontage.

Blount County Commission David Graham is also against the amendment.

"Mom and pop operations have a place out in the county in the rural areas," he said. "If we allow anything (bigger) in the rural areas, we're going to be taking away the incentive for them to be locating in the industrial parks."

"Our tax dollars have gone to build these parks. We should use them."