‘Land’mark 2023 in Farragut
Vital land purchases; Watt/KPike area retail plans soar; lots of champs, accomplished locals honored
Reflected in the photos above and to the right, Town officials proclaimed the third week of January each year as Founders Week to celebrate surviving Founders around 43 years after their roughly year-long work culminated in the Town of Farragut being incorporated in January 1980.
Also on this page, below, is a brief memoriam condensing two stories celebrating the lives of the late Bettye Sisco and the late Doris Owens.
In addition, we have set aside page 2A to celebrate various accomplishments in 2023 of both current Farragut residents — as young as high school students — and those former Town residents who have gone on to earn state, regional, national and even international acclaim.
Page 3A has been set aside to celebrate various champions from 2023, especially at the high school level.
Land purchases, rejections
In a 3-2 vote in March, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen rejected a request from Doug Horne, prominent local real estate developer and owner of Republic Newspapers, Inc. (parent company of farragutpress), to build a senior living center on 41 acres behind Ingles near Kingston Pike and just to the west of Boring Road.
However, Horne would find a willing buyer in the fall when Knox County Board of Education voted Oct. 4 to purchase those same 41 acres from Horne, for $4.892.5 million, on which to place a Farragut public school (exact grades of that school are still to be determined; see story beginning on page 1A)
Ironically, a few dozen acres of land along McFee Road that Knox County Schools showed at least some interest in purchasing ended up being approved for purchase by the Town, as BOMA voted 4-1 Oct. 26 to buy 55 acres — plus obtaining 15 extra acres free of charge — for $5.5 million, on which it would likely place a park.
Natural gas leak, fallout,
at Hardin Valley Academy
A gas leak at Hardin Valley Academy, which was discovered on the school morning of March 26, became known for two outcomes: a janitor reportedly later confessed to turning on the gas purposely, for which he was arrested, and for the administrative leave imposed upon then HVA principal Dr. Rob Speas.
Speas received sharp criticizm from many parents about how the incident was handled, yet other parents and a handful of HVA teachers publicly came to his defense.
Mitchell Cox, most recently supervisor of employee relations with Knox County Schools’ Central Office, became new HVA principal effective July 1.
Cox has been with KCS since 2017, beginning as principal of Halls Elementary School, then moving to Cedar Bluff Elementary as principal in 2019.
With KCS officials being tight-lipped about Speas’ ongoing administrative leave status into the 2023-24 school year, Speas filled a vacancy and became an assistant principal at FHS during fall semester.
Shootout, murder
As for deadly violence just beyond Town limits in 2023, a former state of Maryland chief of staff, who was a fugitive from justice, was fleeing FBI and local law enforcement officials along Interstate 40/75 April 3 before exiting and being caught in a parking lot adjacent to Gold’s Gym near Kingston Pike.
The fugitive, Roy McGrath, 53, was killed following an exchange of gunfire. No reason for his trek south was reported.
Meanwhile, a jogger stumbled upon a dead body along Northshore Drive in November. Four men were charged with murder.
Concord Marina boat fire
A boat fire at Concord Marina June 3 sent three victims to Vanderbilt Burn Center in Nashville with serious burns.
Windfall, grant
Farragut received a windfall of more than three quarters of a million dollars in May from a class action lawsuit settlement relating to polychlorinated biphenyls contamination of the Fort Loudoun reservoir.
Town Mayor Ron Williams said the settlement check in the amount of $789,183 was recently received by Town staff.
The Town of Farragut also received a Christmas present early with the announcement made during Farragut Board of Mayor and Alderman’s meeting Thursday, Dec. 14, of a state grant it received for Town parks.
“Our award is for $1,365,000, which is 50 percent of the upcoming $2,730,000 park projects that are coming up,” Parks and Recreation director RonOstrich said about the Town’s share as presented during a formal presentation of the 2023-2024 Local Park & Recreation Fund Grant awards to 33 communities statewide for various projects.
Town “in a pickle”
About 40 Farragut and nearby residents who played pickleball regularly at McFee Park — before the Town did away with the pickleball markings following complaints from residents near the courts for excessive noise — came to confront BOMA during its Nov. 9 meeting.
Several of these pickleballers spoke out against removing the McFee pickleball markings, as did a few residents who complained about excessive noise.
These Town leaders suggested the possibility of moving the Town pickleball courts to Mayor Bob Leonard Park, where there would be no nearby residents bothered by the noise.
Interchange improvement
After two decades of waiting, the Town of Farragut is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel regarding planned improvements to the I-40/75 interchange with North Campbell Station Road to alleviate heavy traffic issues on this road.
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen, during its Thursday, Jan. 12 meeting, unanimously approved a contract with Tennessee Department of Transportation on the project to reconstruct the interchange.
Mormons’ new Temple
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints received unanimous site plan approval to build Knoxville Tennessee Temple, a regional event center for church members, from Farragut Municipal Planning Commission during FMPC’s meeting Thursday, May 18.
The temple will be located on 5.26 acres at 13001 Kingston Pike, according to Town Community Development director Mark Shipley.
“This is going to be a heck of an architectural piece in the Town of Farragut,” Commissioner Noah Myers said. “... It’s pretty awesome. ...You only have one other one in the state.”
Public sounding off
Farragut residents turned out, 145 strong, to the Town’s two public meetings about the Mixed Use Town Center in Farragut Community Center Thursday, Aug. 31, to learn more about the “downtown” Town Center area and have their say in how it would be developed, while sounding off on other Town projects and needs.
“I’m fighting … fighting for my Town,” Elaine Jackson, vice president of Sweetbriar subdivision, said about why she attended, explaining she is concerned about the current traffic, especially when Interstate 40/75 backs up.
“We can’t just keep putting buildings out there … I don’t think the Town of Farragut is thinking this through,” Jackson said.
A handful of residents also sounded off concerning Hy-Vee, a national grocery chain based in Iowa looking to place one of its stores with roughly 60 acres of land about one-quarter of a mile west of the Campbell Station Road-Kingston Pike intersection along the south side of the Pike, which belongs to former Town Mayor Eddy Ford.
While those against this new Town addition are winning — Hy-Vee is at best reconsidering its options in Farragut at last report — others sounded off unhappy about how Town leaders, both BOMA and FMPC, fail to properly disclose their specific actions to the public.
However, Town attorney Tom Hale has vigorously defended the Town’s handling of such notices, saying there are no legal issues.
