News
September 9, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
A mixed-use development featuring 30 townhomes and commercial space is being planned along Watt Road in Farragut.
Eddie Kherani of Reliance Development, the property owner, and representatives of architectural firm, The Architecture Collaborative, presented a site plan for Serenade at Farragut during a Farragut Municipal Planning Commission Staff-Developer meeting.
The proposed 9.2-acre development, at 421 Watt Road between North Watt and Harrison roads near Town limits, is on property zoned Neighborhood/Convenience Commercial.
The development includes 30 townhomes and a number of commercial units. Although TAC sought review of the commercial portion, work already is being done on both the residential and commercial portions.
In December 2024, FMPC granted approval for a sight-distance variance between driveways for the project, as well as a preliminary plat.
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September 9, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
About eight Fox Den subdivision residents told Town planners and developers during a Farragut Municipal Planning Commission Staff/Planner meeting Tuesday morning, Sept. 1, that they do not want a proposed townhouse development to have access to South Fox Den Drive.
“I’m opposed to having a connection to South Fox Den,” said John Underwood, a Fox Den Homeowners Association representative.
“We don’t want our property with that development,” Keli Wise added.
“There are other opportunities,” Sean Sanderson said.
For almost an hour, residents argued — many talking over one another — about the proposed connection to South Fox Den Drive. Some contended the connection would bring additional traffic into their subdivision while others said it would devalue their properties.
Ultimately, Community Development director Mark Shipley said, “It’s obvious you all are not going to agree.”
Nevertheless, he said the developers still have work to do and are not ready to submit a proposal to FMPC at its Thursday, Sept. 17, meeting.
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September 9, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
First Utility District is conducting business as usual in regard to its management following the May 8 sewer line break near Grigsby Chapel Road’s greenway that contaminated North Fork Turkey Creek.
When Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation “said we were all good, we went back to normal operations,” FUD general manager Bruce Giles said. “There’s really nothing [more to do] from our perspective.
“Once we resolved the short-term issue and made sure everything was good, TDEC closed the case, told us we were all good and we just kept moving along,” he said. “I think the creek’s right back to the same condition it was before. Like I told you before, it’s always been impaired.”
Likewise, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency assistant chief of the biodiversity division Jason Miller agreed FUD fulfilled its obligations.
About penalties reported regarding the spill, Miller said, “We don’t really describe it as a penalty.
“Essentially, we value the total loss of the resource, and of course, and fish and wildlife belong to Tennessee residents, so we just say [FUD] needs to remit to the agency the value of that loss because it’s not a purposeful pollution event or something like that,” he said. “We ask people to be responsible for attacks to the fish and wildlife. So, basically, we issued them $6,838.44 with the loss of fish species within that small stream, and [FUD] paid that immediately.
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September 9, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Brenda Vandever of Farragut wants people to remember those who died Sept. 11, 2001, from the terrorist attack on the World Trade Towers.
She cannot forget.
Vandever’s youngest brother, Tony Karnes, 37, was one of those who died that day, so every year she publishes an “in loving memory” for him.
“We just can’t let these people be forgotten,” she said. “In fact, they’re having a memorial on 9/11, combining it
with the Stair Climb that firefighters do” to signify the firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York.
“They went back into the buildings to try to rescue people on 104 floors,” Vandever related. “With the Stair Climb this year, it’s at the Covenant Health Park. They’re going to have a memorial for the victims first, and then they’ll start the Stair Climb.
“I think they figured up and down the stands at the Smokies stadium would match the 104 floors,” she said.
Built primarily between 1966 and 1975, the towers were dedicated on April 4, 1973, as a complex of seven buildings in the financial district of lower Manhattan in New York City. Then, terrorists in two hijacked planes flew into the towers on Sept. 11 and destroyed them, killing nearly 3,000 people.
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September 9, 2026 by Jake Nichols
Lynn Perella may be relatively new to the area.
But she is certainly no stranger to the advertising game, having worked for multiple TV stations and other media outlets before arriving in Farragut.
Now, Perella is eager to bring that acumen to the farragutpress as its newest advertising and account executive.
“The community is very intertwined, and everyone that lives here reads the farragutpress cover to cover,” Perella said. “So I want to bring some advertisers, either the ones here now or the ones I’ll be talking with, and just let them have the benefit of this audience. It’s a huge audience, and the demographics are good. Everything about it is good for an advertiser, so I hope to help them see how that will help their business.”
Perella began her media sales career with The Mountain Press in Sevierville, working there for 15 years.
After moving across the country with her husband, Perella returned to East Tennessee and took on similar roles with WATE, WTNZ and WBIR in Knoxville.
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September 9, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
“I love serving the community,” exclaimed Candace Viox, owner of Water Into Wine bistro & lounge and president of Shop Farragut/Farragut Business Alliance. “I love helping any way I can.”
She also is past president of Rotary Club of Farragut, serves on the Town’s tourism committee, supports churches in the Town, supports schools with her gift baskets and donations and supports Operation Hero’s Hill.
And, Viox’s service in the community has not gone unnoticed. Recently, she was nominated to participate in Leadership Knoxville 2026-2027.
“I still don’t know who nominated me,” she said. “I’m so honored and just humbled because I didn’t feel like I really understood what Leadership Knoxville was.”
Leadership Knoxville is a prominent non-profit community leadership development organization, which was founded in 1984, according to its website.
“I was just surprised, I guess, that they contacted me and told me that I had been chosen [in late June],” Viox said. “And then, I had to accept the invitation.
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September 9, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Farragut Museum is jumping with free events, all the way through December.
“We’re just trying to get people engaged and share our love for history with a lot of community outreach programs we’re trying to implement,” Farragut historic resources coordinator Kristi Vining said.
Since it opened April 2025, “we try to do an event every month.”
The action starts with Movies at the Museum 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18, at the BlueCross Healthy Place playground behind Town Hall, 11408 Municipal Center Drive.
“We partnered with the Knoxville House Museum with something they do every fall,” Vining said. “Every Friday night in September and October, they rotate locations and have an outdoor movie.
The movies have been shown at Mabry-Hazen House, James White Fort and other locations.
“So, we’re hosting it on Sept. 18, and we’re going to do it at the field behind the playground,” she said. “We’re showing ‘Herbie Fully Loaded.’
“There’s a special tie to that because it was written by Robert Ben Garant, who is a 1988 graduate of Farragut High School,” Vining said. “We’ll have to wait a little bit until it gets dark enough to see the movie, probably about 8:15 p.m.
“We thought kids could play on the playground if they wanted to, get some energy out,” she added. For adults, “bring your lawn chair; bring your blanket.”
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September 9, 2026 by
farragutpress is now accepting political profile submissions for the 2026 election cycle.
As the 2026 election season approaches, farragutpress is providing political candidates with an opportunity to share their message directly with readers through candidate profiles published in the newspaper.
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