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Alcoa City Commission Tuesday night approved a no-growth budget and a controversial rezoning to allow ALDI Inc. to build a new grocery store.

The $18,012,475 budget for fiscal 2009-2010 includes no change in the $2.10 tax rate and basically includes no growth in any departments,

The budget has no raises for city employees except for school teachers who under the law must get step raises.

When $2,126,900 in special stimulus project money is removed from the general fund, that budget is nearly $1.3 million less than the current budget of $17,358,405.

Stimulus projects include funds to improve the Alcoa Highway and Wright Road intersection and a pedestrian bridge over the U.S. 129 Bypass between Alcoa Municipal Building and Anderson Lumber Co. to extend the Greenway trail system.

In order to balance the budget, the city eleced to suspend the city payroll contribution of 3 percent to the 401K fund of employees, which would have totaled $348,700.

This is the third year in a row that the tax rate remains steady.

A called meeting on second and final vote on the budget was set for 8:15 a.m. June 25, at Alcoa Municipal Building.

Church opposes rezoning

A disputed rezoning, changing the zone of the old 911 building property and Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church from Institutional to Commercial, was approved on first reading.

Tom Witt, chairman of the church Finance Committee, said the church is concerned with the amount of traffic that ALDI will generate.

He said when the church moved to this location in 2000, it had 450 families and nine years later has 1,000 families. Once the economy improves, he expects that to grow to 1,500 families in another nine years.

Another concern is the exit area and its ability to handle all the traffic onto Louisville Road, as well as the turning radius for tractor-trailers. Another concern is whether the entrance and frontage road can handle the weight of the loaded semis that will serve ALDI.

According to information supplied by ALDI, Witt said 50,000 cubic yards of material will have to be moved in and out during construction. "That's a lot of dump trucks," he said.

Presently 400 children attend school periodically at the church and their safety is an issue of concern, he said.

Witt said until these concerns are addressed, the church objects to the rezoning.

Bill Brewer, chairman of the 911 Center Board, asked that the commission pass the ordinance on first reading. He said engineers "will adequately address all their concerns at the second reading."

The next regular commission meeting is set for July 14.

'Not a good entrance'

"It is a challenging piece of property for any business to go in there," said Alcoa City Manager Mark Johnson. "Hopefully, we will have some solution that is amenable to all parties then (at the second and final reading).

"I would like to see an improvement of that entrance, not just for ALDI, but for the church itself. It's not a good entrance," he said.

The problem with the exit developed when the entrance was changed to accommodate Wal-Mart when it located across Louisville Road from the property and Louisville Road changed from a two-lane road to its current multi-lane configuration, Brewer said.

Johnson said the "real meat of the issue" will be determined during Alcoa Planning Commission consideration of the site plan on June 18. He said it may require an exchange of some property with the church.

Jesse Anesi, director of real estate for ALDI, said the food company has "already talked to the Catholic church. I've been doing this 25 years and we have always been good neighbors."

He said one positive is that "we control our own trucks. We don't have outside vendors (like other grocery stores)."

"The sale of the property is contingent on the rezoning," Anesi added.

APD grant approved

In further action, the commission authorized Alcoa Police Department to apply for $11,736 from the U.S. Department of Justice for a Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) under the Federal Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Over the next 30 days, Alcoa Police Captain Phillip Dunn will be accepting public input on how the funds can be spent. The public can contact him at Alcoa Police Department or call him at 380-4950 for further information.