Signal Mountain, Tennessee Issues and Happenings

We had a council work/agenda session yesterday. This served to reinforce a decision I made last summer. After the repeal of the SROZ, I decided that I no longer had any effectiveness in that area and that I had been totally marginalized on issues of land-use, so I felt I should put my energies elsewhere. After the recent meeting with Randall Arendt, I allowed myself to get excited again. While the Council and Planning Commission continue to claim to move towards conservation and open space design, I have felt their approach was too confrontational and therefore counterproductive. I ran pledging to try to bring people together to work cooperatively. However, I have seen an unfortunate move in the opposite direction.

From my previous post, you know that opposition has arisen to Mr. Arendt's offer to do a "pilot project" conservation subdivision design on a local piece of property. I had hoped that if the Planning Commission continued to be interested in this proposal, that the Council might support it. However, the meeting yesterday made it clear that there is minimal to no support on the Council. As a matter of fact, I was surprised that this proposal was perceived by the rest of the Council as a gift to the participating landowner and that Mr. Arendt's presentation to us was seen as self-promoting and more about selling himself to the developers than about helping the town. I tried to explain that I felt his emphasis on the economic benefits of conservation design was an attempt to show the landowners and developers present the advantages of using these designs. The response from the Council was that we didn't need to show any benefits, that the Council had the power to impose these regulations and the landowners would just have to accept it. This was a far cry from the cooperative atmosphere with which we started this process and I see no future in my continuing to waste any energy in this area. I never wanted this to be about cramming these ideas down any one's throats, no matter how strongly I supported them, but about creating processes which were mutually beneficial.

It is ironic that I occasionally wonder if I should have taken Mayor Lusk's offer to remain on the Planning Commission. When he told me he planned to oppose me for mayor, I told him that being on the Planning Commission was one of the reasons I would like to remain mayor through the completion of my term. This was because we were still in the middle of this process and I truly wanted to see it through. He replied that he didn't realize that the mayor served on the Planning Commission, that he was already too busy and didn't have time to do it and that I could continue on the Planning Commission. I told him that I thought it important that the mayor perform this important duty and that I didn't think I could honestly represent anyone who had opposed me for mayor or a council which had rejected me.

So, while I still hope the Planning Commission will discuss and consider Mr. Arendt's offer, I don't see much hope of the Council accepting it regardless. I think this is an unfortunate missed opportunity. At this point I think I just need to wash my hands of the issue.

In other business yesterday, there seems to be strong support on the Council for adding so-called "speed cameras" to the town. There are certainly arguments in favor of them, but there is also strong opposition in the town from all I've seen. I am trying to continue to keep an open mind, gather information and input from citizens, so let me know how you feel!

The Council will probably put a referendum on a ballot for early next year to add 1/2 cent to the sales tax. There is a strong feeling that the state will add this tax on state-wide and if we do it ourselves, we will retain a much larger portion of the tax. So it is probably not if, but when and how. Obviously the decision will ultimately be up to the citizens via the referendum.

EPB made a presentation in requesting a franchise agreement to begin offering their fiber-optic internet/tv/phone services. Once the contract is tweaked a bit I'm sure this will pass and they think they will have service up here by the first of the year adding another option for these services for our citizens.