| Friends of Wears Valley John Meyers |
| What can you do to save these mountains? 1. Show your support. Place a yard sign in your yard. Put a bumper sticker on your vehicle. Wear a T- Shirt. 2. Write your elected officials. Tell them that you support regulations to protect mountains and hillsides. Tell them that unregulated urban sprawl must be stopped. Call your elected officials after you have written them. Tell them that you want them to support regulations and that you will not support them if they don’t support protecting our mountains. 3. Write your local media organizations. Tell them that you are going to demand that your local officials protect our natural resources. 4. Tell your friends to save these mountains. They live in the mountains, too. They don’t want to see them destroyed, either. 5. Organize your neighbors, friends and business associates. Plan meetings to get them involved. 6. Support The Friends of Wears Valley by offering your services, your time or your money. 7. Attend every commission meeting and every planning commission meeting if you’re able. 8. Make a contribution to the Friends of Wears Valley at 3549 country Dreams Way, Sevierville, TN 37862. Contact John Meyers at: wearsfriends@aol.com if you have any ideas or can offer support. We need any assistance you can provide to keep our issue – Protecting the beauty of our mountain environment in the forefront. When you meet candidates for office ask their position on protecting the mountains. Ask them if current levels of development are acceptable. Get them to commit to their decision. There are only 2 choices: protect the mountains or not. SEVIER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Request for Resolution Text of the Sevier County Planning Commission presentation: We have drafted a resolution modeled after a similar resolution in White County, Georgia. They are experiencing the same kinds of issues that we face in Sevier County. They are a mountainside community that relies heavily on the tourism industry. Their local planners exercised their leadership by adopting this resolution because they realize that they must protect their most valuable resource. – Their mountains. You don’t build a house with out a blueprint. You don’t start a business without a business plan. We don’t think it is smart to build a community without a blue print for success. A community needs to decide what they want to “look” like. They need to decide what it is they want to be. This is why we are proposing a blue print for the future of Sevier County. We call this blue print: The RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS FOR THE PROTECTION OF MOUNTAINS AND HILLSIDES This resolution is crafted to Preserve the appearance and protect the natural resources of our mountains in Sevier County Protect the ridgelines and steep slopes Prevent soil erosion and control storm water runoff Protect rare species as described by the state of Tennessee’s Department of Natural Heritage Encourage application of sound and innovative design principles Provide guidelines to be compatible with mountain and hillside surroundings in a way that benefits property owners, citizens of Sevier County and visitors to our beautiful county Protect the safety of Sevier County residents and families by establishing safe development guidelines on mountains and hillsides Provide a safe work environment for our first responders. We are concerned that they will be placed in additional danger by having to navigate steep, narrow roadways while protecting our Sevier County neighbors Our resolution enhances the subdivision guidelines and strengthens several provisions. We ask that you review these guidelines, present them to the citizens of Sevier County and that you adopt this resolution to protect the mountains in Sevier County before they are destroyed. We feel that no development should be allowed to proceed unless the planning commission, the citizens of Sevier County and the developers, themselves know what the impact of the development will be. This resolution serves as a blueprint for the protection of our mountain assets. Developers will tell you about gains in tax revenues that result from their developments. The increased tax revenue argument is a short term one. It does not hold true for the long term, especially if the very foundation - visitors coming to experience the natural beauty of our mountains ceases to exist. Communities must expand infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing population. Police and fire services need additional personnel and equipment. Roads must be built. Schools need to be built. Landfills need to be built to accommodate the growing sanitation requirements. Water and sewer lines need to grow into new communities once the wells and septic tanks can no longer meet the needs of the expanding populations. These services need an ever increasing revenue base. We have taken a long term view of our situation. If we don’t protect our mountains people will stop coming here. The revenues will decline and the citizens will be forced to support an infrastructure that no longer is funded. Everyone I have spoken with (with the exception of Gerald Rhea and Ron Ogle) have told me that they don’t like what is happening to “their” mountains. The English Mountain development publishes a newsletter for their residents called the English Mountain Gazette. In their December 2005 issue, they say “We don’t want English Mountain Scarred like Wears Valley.” We don’t either! If fact, we don’t want any more of our mountains scarred. Tourists don’t either. I hope you don’t. A mountain environment is different than flat lands. Sevier County has taken a positive step in adopting the subdivision regulations. We look forward to working with the Sevier County Planning Commission, Builders, Developers and Citizens to establish guidelines that will ensure that we build smart in Sevier County. I now will speak specifically about the proposed development on Cove Mountain. This development is THE reason that planning for the future of Sevier County is necessary. I just read an article in today’s newspaper about a proposed development of approximately 1800 acres. That land needs your help, too. The State of Tennessee Division of Natural Heritage carries out its mission through several program areas. They list 108 species of plants and animals which are determined to be extremely rare, very rare or rare in Sevier County. 116 Species are listed as endangered, threatened or are of “special concern.” Currently, there is no requirement to evaluate the impact of developing this 1000+ acre Cove Mountain site on the animal and plant life within the development. What will the impact be of the 1800 acre development? More importantly, what will the impact be to the neighbors of these developments? The resolution that we bring to you tonight, requires that developers of large sites – those over 30 proposed acres or higher submit detailed environmental impact studies and findings to the planning commission prior to approval as our top priority. Because these large developments are of such a size, will have many, many home sites which will each have wells and septic systems, will have a dramatic effect on 3400 Wears Valley residents and because this development has the potential to adversely impact rare species, as described by the state of Tennessee and the Sierra Club, we recommend that the developer of mountain projects be required to conduct an environmental study to evaluate: The impact on rare species The impact that all of the private wells will have on our drinking water The impact of water run off by disturbing the mountain side terrain with home sites, roadways, clubhouse, restaurant and parking areas The impact of all of the septic systems on home sites and commercial sites We feel that no development should be allowed to proceed unless the planning commission, the citizens of Sevier County and the developers, themselves know what the impact of a proposed development will be. We feel strongly that a builder should know what they are disturbing before the first shovel of dirt is turned. This is especially important for Cove Mountain as I have received calls from at least 2 families who claim that they have family members buried on Cove Mountain. The Cherokee Indians once called this area home. I wonder what there forefathers may have left behind. In our meetings with the Cove Mountain developers, they repeatedly stated that they are concerned about Cove Mountain. We share their concern. We also have concern for the rare plants and animals. Most importantly, we are concerned for the safety and well being of the county residents and property owners. We think that they should conduct a study to find out what their impact will be on the families, neighbors and citizens of Wears Valley and all of Sevier County. We respectfully submit our guidelines for the protection of mountain and hillsides. We look forward to working with all parties to ensure that the beauty of our mountains will outlive us, our children and all future generations of Sevier County residents. The citizens of Sevier County want you to: Adopt the RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS FOR THE PROTECTION OF MOUNTAINS AND HILLSIDES immediately. Implement zoning statutes immediately. We also want you to require all pending developments to comply with this resolution to start protecting our mountains today. I mentioned that you have a decision to make. I have outlined the reasons why we feel that our mountains need to be protected. I want to know how each of you feel about our mountains. Mr. Chairman, will you call the roll and ask each of your planning commissioners if they support guidelines that protect our mountains or if they don’t support protecting our mountains. |