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• This Thursday (Oct. 8), the Board of Mayor and Aldermen will vote on Text Amendments on the Biddle Farm property. That is improper. The (Farragut Municipal) Planning Commission should not have approved the Sept. 17 Text Amendment to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
The Comprehensive Land Use Plan defines a major update as one that “substantially changes the land’s uses, goal or intent of the plan.” Major updates should include substantial public outreach to help check that the plan reflects current attitudes. This was not done on Sept. 17. There were many public comments to the issue that were not considered until after the vote, or they were read in Citizens Forum. This is a violation of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. It is imperative that the citizens of Farragut have the opportunity to discuss these changes prior to the vote. And recommending this change to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of not only the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, but the Tennessee Open Meetings Act. We hope and ask that our elected leaders do better: send this back to the Planning Commission and follow the rules, please. (Editor’s Note: to get a Board of Mayor and Aldermen response to this accusation, largely through the reactions of Town attorney Tom Hale and Mayor Ron Williams, read the story ‘“It was by all means ethical:’ Williams, Hale on FMPC public voice consideration” at the top of the front page, 1A, in our Oct. 1 issue)
