Town Budget OK’d, but greenway issue hot topic; lawsuit threatened
Despite objections from a few residents on hand, Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen, in a 4-1 vote, approved its 2025 budget, which included the $500,000 allocation for the Turkey Creek greenway expansion and road improvements, on final reading during its meeting Thursday, June 13.
While Alderman David White voted against the motion to approve the budget with the Turkey Creek project funding, Mayor Ron Williams, Vice Mayor Louise Povlin and Aldermen Drew Burnette and Scott Meyer voted for the motion.
“I’m fine with keeping the Turkey Creek greenway and road improvements in the budget,” Meyer said. “If we have to take it out later because of legal matters, then we’ll take it out there.”
“My thought is this has always been a road project; with it comes along what we’ve always done, and that’s a sidewalk or walking trail,” the mayor said about the greenway and road project. “The curve (on Turkey Creek Road) is a dangerous curve. In the afternoons it’s a blinding, (with) sun in your eyes. It’s something that homeowners down there are aware of.”
Contesting the greenway funding at the meeting included Randal L. Roberts, who is seeking the Ward II (South) Alderman seat opposing Burnette in the upcoming election.
“I’d like to address the matter concerning Farragut’s proposed spending of an estimated $2.5 million to put a 1,600-foot sidewalk on Turkey Creek Road,” Roberts said.
“In all reality, by the time it’s built, it’s going to look a lot more like $3 million,” he added. “First off, is this really needed? For all the times I’ve been down that road, not once did I see anyone walking in that area.
“It’s doubtful that we’ll ever generate the pedestrian traffic that would warrant that type of expenditure. It’s another one of those things that was built on paper, but in reality is it really needed, especially with the costs involved?”
Although Burnette voiced mixed feelings on “being on the fence” on the greenway project and wants a legal opinion, he went ahead and voted in favor of the budget and its funding for that project, saying, “This ($500,000 for the greenway expansion) being added to the budget shouldn’t, in my opinion, trigger a lawsuit.
“I don’t know how we would be sued just by adding this in the budget,” he added. “It keeps it in there, and then we could have a legal opinion.
“(The project) may not even make it through the Planning Commission, but if it does, then we would have something to consider later.”
“We did reach out to other counsel to try to give us an opinion and give us some guidance on this issue,” Town administrator David Smoak said, with Town attorney Tom Hale having a conflict of interest in the matter. “That counsel has not had a chance to review it yet, so obviously it’s bad timing because we have the budget going on tonight.
“... You can include it tonight and take it out if you find it’s something we don’t need to move forward on,” he added.
During a break in the meeting, Hale confirmed he does have a conflict in that he has represented Shirley Harkins, one of three homeowner families represented by Knoxville attorney John Neal trying to stop the proposed greenway expansion through their yards.
Williams agreed the Board does need to get legal advice on the project. “I think that’s a good idea,” he added.
White detailed his opposition to adding the $500,000.
“I think it’s not only ridiculous, it’s really asinine, really, to claim a greenway is going to be public transportation,” he said. “… What I see is some property owners who have owned their property; they live there, they own it, they have a right to enjoy it. And we want to cross 25 feet into somebody’s yard and put a greenway for other people to walk and ride bicycles.”
White, who made a motion to approve the budget minus the greenway funding before it failed for lack of a second, said about the greenway’s path, “That’s not only unfair, that’s silly.”
Regarding the new state law, Povlin read Chapter 10:34, that was amended to state: “Public use does not include recreational facilities, recreational purposes or parks, private use or benefit or the indirect public benefits resulting from high economic development and private economic enterprise, including increased tax revenue and increased employment opportunity, except as follows: A. The acquisition of any interest in land necessary for a road, highway, bridge or other structure, facility or project used for public transportation.
“The line item in the CIP, when we approved the budget on first reading … reads, ‘Turkey Creek Greenway road improvements,’” she added.
“I read the new law,” Williams said. “The new law is relevant to Parks and Rec., but if we weren’t fixing a road, I think it would be a different story, but we are fixing a road, so I think a legal opinion would go a long way on that.”
The Board’s vote came on the heels of opposing comments from Neal and several residents. “We’re going to get involved in a lawsuit,” warned Neal, who referred to a letter published in farragutpress Wednesday, June 12, and e-mailed to Board members detailing his project objections.
(More on a traffic spending consideration, mentioned at this meeting, and residents’ reactions in next week’s issue).
