The Thorn Grove neighborhood won an important victory for all Knoxville and Knox County neighbhorhod groups as Chancellor Daryl Fasler ruled that MPC had illegally changed the sector plan to accommodate the Development Corporation's proposed Midway Road Industrial Park.

As I posted in an earlier thread, this lawsuit is going to be historic - it shows the MPC that they too have to be accountable for their actions, and that they can't just make arbitrary decisions.

This should have an immediate impact on rezonings. Neighborhoods, pay attention! The Knox County ordinance that governs changes to the sector plan says that there has to be a material change in the conditions before the plan can be amended. There was no attempt to show that there had a been any change when the MPC did the Development Corp.'s bidding against the wishes of the neighborhood.

It also serves to highlight the importance of the sector plans and also of the MPC commissioners, which are appointed, not elected. The ruling says that only MPC has the ability to amend sector plans, and that they must follow the ordinance to do so. I look for heavy pressure on MPC commissioners and also an attempt to change the ordinance. I know that the MPC director recently sent out a reassurance to staff and commissioners along the lines of they were confident they were right and were going to win the lawsuit, blah, blah. A bit of misplaced confidence there I believe.

Don't know why there wasn't much coverage of this important ruling in the local media, unless they don't grasp the implications. The Sentinel did write this somewhat slanted story, but it was buried - I was looking for it and never did see it online.

Mike Edwards just can't let go, can he? But I guess after all, why should he? It's not HIS money he's spending, it's OURS.

Attorney John Valliant told the Chancellor that he had been practicing zoning law for years and they had always done it that way.

Guess it's time for a change . . . .

MPC - 0 Knox County Neighborhoods - 1

Next up, County Commission!

"The Sentinel did write this somewhat slanted story, but it was buried - I was looking for it and never did see it online."

...but it was page 1, top of the fold in the print edition.

I agree the NS story was pretty slanted and watered down of straightforward information. But I suspect since Josh Flory wrote it and he makes his living espousing the greatness of developments, whatever they may be, that was no surprise. Over the time I have glanced at his stories he seems a bit of a shill for Edwards, this developer, that developer, etc.

The NS should have assigned that story to a different reporter. To focus on the empowering significance to the average citizen of this suit. They have treated the Midway suit oddly from the beginning. From a journalistic standpoint, it was a weak offering as it was presented. Especially since it was on the front page.

This is example of how political power can overpower reason. This project is not viable. It never was. The Development Corporation has never shown how a sewer plant can be cost effectively put in this karst geography. The break-even was non-attainable two years ago.

The problem is two fold. First the problem of where to locate the sewer plant. The Development Corporation has even suggested a mini sewer plant to keep costs down and still cannot reach a break even.

The second part of the problem is the sewer pipes. Because of the karst geography, the sewer pipes must be lined to prevent leaks. When water meets karst (limestone), it dissolves the structure that supports the sewer pipe. A sinkhole forms, and it gets very expensive. Lined pipes blow up the cost beyond any return on investment.

County Commission was given this information before they voted. They chose to ignore it. Not a dime should be spent on this until the sewer design is approved by County Commission.

From the KNS column:

The Development Corporation of Knox County, a nonprofit partnership between local government and the private sector that promotes economic development, purchased the land for the park for about $11 million in 2006 and intervened in the case as a defendant.

Today's column on the Development Corporation is interesting also.

(link...)

The Development Corporation has 11 million in the bank. A Commissioner says they do not need $900,000 in funding from Knox County. The Development Corporation says they cannot use money in the bank for operations.

Mike Edwards, president of the Knoxville Chamber, said those last two entities would cease to exist without the $900,000 in operating funds. "We don't have the discretion to use the capital funds for operating dollars," Edwards said.

Unbelievable. Our taxpayer money is wasted. When the property tax increase from hell comes remember how we got in this mess.

In 2007 County Commission voted to give them money for the Midway project that was allocated for "economic development" in the budget from 2007, 2008, 2009 and I think 2010 for "infrastructure" development. Of course the 2008-2010 budget hadn't even been done yet, but they passed it anyway.

They had the money from the sale of the FM property to purchase the land with, so they didn't need any approval from CC. I understand that Pat Wood's real estate company made about $600k of taxpayer money for doing the options and buying the land.

Good information. I assume its public record but maybe not easily accessible to get more details on the options.

This could be an unusually interesting trial.

Maybe the Tennessean or Washington Post will develop an interest.