Vision Plan, Town Center, gets 4-1 BOMA nod
After a little more than a year, the Town’s Vision Plan for its Mixed-Use Town Center (downtown) was passed in a resolution in a 4-1 vote.
While Mayor Ron Williams and Aldermen Scott Meyer made the motion to approve it, Drew Burnette and Alex Cain also voted to approve the resolution. Alderman David White voted against it.
“Why are we going to vote on the Vision Plan when the thing is done; it’s finished?” White asked.
“It’s just an expression of support, if you want to do that,” Community Development director Mark Shipley answered.
“That’s what this resolution is.”
The idea was to have a vision plan started last year, when the Board decided to create a vision plan for Town Center, hiring TSW Consultants to develop that plan.
Shipley said the consultants worked with the community to “determine their desires for this area,” adding, “This outreach has involved steering committee and stakeholder meetings and four well-attended community meetings. There were also two surveys conducted with over 1,200 responses.”
Going back to last Spring, “A complete draft of the plan, which is titled, ‘Town of Farragut Mixed-Use Town Center Vision Plan (the Plan),’ was taken to the (Farragut Municipal) Planning Commission for a workshop discussion at their meeting on May 16, 2024,” Shipley said. “Some suggested modifications were made to the plan at the May Planning Commission meeting and the plan was taken back to the Planning Commission on June 20, 2024, for a recommendation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
“The staff presented the plan as an ordinance to enhance the level of support for the concepts in the plan and to be consistent with how the Architectural Design Standards were adopted and how the Mixed-Use Town Center area has been treated, from a regulatory perspective, since 2015.”
However, “Some concerns were raised about approving the plan as an ordinance and the Planning Commission recommended postponement and for the staff to consult further with the Town attorney,” Shipley said.
Attorney Tom Hale did not support approving the plan as an ordinance, but did advise it should be a resolution.
Then on Sept. 26, 2024, Shipley said Town staff conducted a workshop with the Board to review land use-related plans, how they are applied in the Town and how the current Comprehensive Land Use Plan has been applied, specifically to the MUTC.
“The primary purpose of that workshop was to obtain feedback from the Board in terms of what they may be comfortable with to express support for the Plan,” he said.
