Letter to the Editor
January 16th marks the 46th anniversary of the incorporation of the Town of Farragut. In the late 70s, development activity increased in the Farragut area. The Town founders were alarmed by Knox County’s lack of development standards and after several frustrating years of trying to bring some attention to the lack of standards, they decided to incorporate to establish higher standards to govern the inevitable growth in the area. The area residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of incorporation and the Town of Farragut was established.
The reasons the Town founders were motivated to incorporate Farragut are as relevant today as they were in 1979. The Town founders wanted our own zoning code and development standards to protect the existing neighborhoods from incompatible development, and to protect and enhance our residential character. They wanted better stormwater regulations, higher road standards and planning for our transportation network. They wanted to declutter our right of ways, they wanted a tree preservation program, and landscaping standards for our commercial areas, they wanted architectural standards to hide HVAC units and screen trash containers.
Once high development standards were in place, Farragut’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen, under Mayor Bob Leonard’s leadership, turned their attention to laying the foundation for the future growth and development of our community that would best protect and enhance our residential character. They were not striving to replicate any other Town. They sought to build a special place, distinct and unique to us and true to our values. They wanted to establish our identity and our community character recognizing that much of the zoning along Kingston Pike was already determined.
They envisioned parks, at least one in each quadrant, a connected sidewalk/trail system, a Town Hall, a public works facility, a museum to preserve and celebrate our history and the history of the area, a library, a post office and a Farragut zip code, mixed use developments that provide for festive shopping areas, a well thought out transportation network to address safety, capacity and connectivity, street lights, and underground utilities.
The Biddle Farms development, the preservation of the Campbell Station Inn, the establishment and continued expansion of Light the Park are the most recent examples in the long list of intentional decisions that connect through multiple mayoral administrations aimed at establishing a unique and distinct community character.
The Town of Farragut is one of the top ranked residential communities in the State of Tennessee. This did not happen by accident, and it did not happen overnight. The success of Farragut, the desirability of Farragut lies in the consistent implementation of the aspirational vision for our Town established under Mayor Bob Leonard. Every administration since Mayor Leonard's has remained consistent in fulfilling the aspirations laid out in the 1980s.
~ Louise Povlin
