‘Hale-fire:’ Town attorney answers BOMA, FMPC critics about Center
Farragut Town Attorney Tom Hale had some choice words to answer accusations of unfair practices and illegal processes waged against elected officials concerning the proposed Town Center, which is planned at the Biddle Farms old Kroger location at Kingston Pike and Brooklawn Street.
Charges have ranged from the Town “violating Farragut ordinance, the Open Meetings Act and the Tennessee Public Notice requirement,” to treating developers in an unfair or biased manor.
Once again making it clear “everything is in order” in answering such accusations, which have been received by e-mailed comments or on social media, Hale reviewed the Town Center process during the Thursday, Dec. 10, Board of Mayor and Aldermen virtual meeting.
“I’ve invited people who wanted to suggest we have not acted in accordance with the law to have their attorney contact me, and nobody has contacted me,” he said.
Looking to clarify “some sort of misunderstanding about how the process works,” Hale said, “For the last 20 years I’ve heard that people seem to think the Town is in the development business; that the Town drives development processes.
“Property owners come to us — it is not the Town going out trying to find a project,” he added. “It all depends on people to invest money on their property to make the thing go. Every project is different and has different processes.
“We have now received a proposal that the Town has been involved in, the Biddle farm proposal — the developer contacted the Town staff more than a year ago to start discussing the process. The developer submitted a plan in March, so they had a plan on the drawing board.”
Saying the Board has been questioned about its “fairness,” Hale said fairness “goes both ways. We can’t have a plan that’s been submitted and diligently pursued — at great expense (to the developer) — then all of a sudden say, ‘We just aren’t going to continue dealing with this plan anymore because somebody else might put in another plan.’
Concerning the possibility of a Town Center located on property owned by, and fronting the home of, former Farragut Mayor Eddy Ford — the acreage of which fronts Kingston Pike about a mile west of its intersection with Campbell Station Road — Hale said, “We have gotten word there might be another plan for a Town Center development. If we get that plan, it’s going to be treated fairly, just like every other plan.”
That alternate plan is from developer Doug Horne, owner of Republic Newspapers, Inc., parent company of farragutpress.
“Keep in mind, we have to deal with what is in front of us; we don’t know whether this plan on the board will be approved or not — all we can do take what they bring us and deal with in accordance with our processes,” Hale said.
“So, again, I don’t mind talking about it, I’ve been wrong before,” he added. “But it doesn’t do any good for us to have a conversation with people that have already made up their minds about how they feel about it, and are not objective.
“I assure you as I look around, at the people who volunteer their time to make this Town work, they are not adverse or inappropriate to anybody, and they treat everyone the same.”
