By Lindsey Hutson-Suttles

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Thursday’s City of La Follette Regional Planning Commission meeting started with four applications for combining adjourning lots. John Davenport was first and his request was approved. Tony Crutchfield represented Johnny Byrge, Allen Sharp and the Nellie Myers property. All came seeking to combine lots. All were approved.

Eddie Marlow submitted a request for a street/alley closure on East Elm Street. The alley way in question involves two other property owners besides Marlow. The recommendation was to have the property owners survey the individual plots, ask the city to abandon the alley and then have the city deed the property back to the landowners.

Tony and Brandon Johnson received a stop work order from the city for their project at 2537-A Jacksboro Pike near Eagle Tire Pros. The Johnsons have been in the process of constructing storage buildings the last few years. The buildings were almost complete when the city issues the order. According to the city, more storage buildings were built than were approved at previous meetings. The Johnsons were operating under the impression that all site plans had been reviewed, approved and voted on. The Johnsons came before the planning commission seeking guidance on what needed to be done to rectify the situation. Mayor Cliff Jennings brought up the recent emergency ordinance about storage buildings being in C-2 zones and wanted to hand this over to the city attorney.

The land has no highway frontage and is in a floodplain with stormwater run-off, Brandon Johnson said. This property is not suitable for other business types, according to him.

Community Planner Jordan Rockwell recommended coming back with an amended site plan with hydrology reports for the new buildings. Planning Commission Member Matthew Grodeman suggested fining the Johnsons, requiring the amended site plan and then allowing them to move forward since the buildings were already in place. The mayor strongly disagreed and wanted to hand the matter over to City Attorney Reid Troutman.

The Johnsons questioned why many city employees had seen the additional buildings and nothing was said until the buildings were almost complete. Planning Commission Chairman Stephanie Solomon said the commission did not want to make a decision in haste. Planning Commission Member Lynn Letner agreed and made a motion to table the matter until old minutes could be pulled to see what was voted on and the new committee could be more informed.

Manasa Marina LLC was back again this month with representation regarding its development at 2335-B Jacksboro Pike behind Weigel’s Convenience Store. Manasa’s lawyer argues that after watching what happened with the Johnson’s case that his client was not given due process. There was no offer of tabling Manasa’s request to acquire landscaping plans that were missing. He went as far as requiring old minutes and brought up that many requests were approved without the landscape plans by the previous commission. He proposed his client get an impartial hearing, get to bring his proposal back and that there be input from the codes officer as stated by the charter. Again, the mayor motioned for the matter to be turned over to Troutman. Letner seconded. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/24/2023-6AM)

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