I think it's back.

Did they ever figure out how to do the sewage? If I remember, there are two lawsuits outstanding?

Strange timing.

The Midway Road citizen group web site.

(link...)

Looks like the citizens won so some folks decided to go back and change the rules.

From originally the Halls Shopper and Betty Bean article ....

But Fansler's ruling is only step one, Buuck said.

"If that finding is carried forward into the rezoning, it means the property's not rezoned. It's still agricultural and residential, which means that the county's on the hook for an $800,000 commission to Pat Wood (as a finder's fee) and a purchase price of $12 million. That probably comes to about $38,000 an acre, which makes it the most expensive agricultural/residential property in the state."

Development Corporation lawyer John Valliant vowed to appeal Fansler's ruling and commented that, "These lawsuits are never won by the property owners."

The article...

(link...)

This sector is presently going through a sector plan update (the East Knox County sector). Turnout has been tremendous, with at least 100 participants at every meeting, and some meeting with 200 participants - much more than usual for a sector plan process.

Mike Edwards and Todd Napier of The Development Corporation have stated before county commission that they expected to influence the sector plan in order to get what they want - watch this video of their discussion about selling the property at County Commission and see what Todd Napier says about how they plan to build the business park in spite of the lawsuit. If they can change the sector plan so that it calls for a business park on the property they have purchased for Midway, they think they are home free.

TDC is pretty confident they can do influence MPC to do this. They wanted to present their plans for the business park during the sector plan meetings, but we objected to having any special interest do a presentation during the official meetings.

So they got the sign up list from the meeting from the MPC staff over our objections and called their own meeting to present their plans to the community. It is going to be tomorrow night.

They still don't get it - the community doesn't want them there and is willing to fight. The turnout of people overwhelming opposed to this use at the sector plan meetings should make it difficult for MPC staff to recommend changing the sector plan to include a business park.

But this is K-town, where arrogant officials who draw fat salaries think the people don't know what's good for them, and there is little shame in doing whatever it takes to accomplish their goals.

The official line from TDC is that they are needed for economic development and they just want to make things better. In reality, they have been a miserable failure and have done nothing but bleed tax dollars to enrich a chosen few. They don't even know they are irrelevant yet, but their time is coming.

Some background from the Midway Road community web site...

(link...)

Looks like some folks that may not be used to hearing 'no'

Any idea how things functioned before TDC was formed?

Who were the "interested business and community leaders" that formed TDC?

I don't have much faith in MPC.

In my opinion, this is why Edwards needs to be replaced as line item 1 at the SuperChamber. This callous indifference in the rules, the regulations, and the wishes of the community as a whole are completely ingnored, such that a commission can be paid and a select few can reap profits of the taxpayers backs for projects of dubious need. This is not the solution for the economic growth of Knoxville and Knox County, in my opinion, this is exactly the problem and potential businesses/industry contemplating relocation to our community want absolutely no part of it.

The business parks we have are either empty already (Hardin Valley) or losing businesses (Eastbridge, Forks of the River). We are surrounded by empty business parks in other adjoining counties - such as Roane Co's huge park. We don't want it and don't need it and TDC is a sorry excuse for economic development.

What happened to the Blount/Knox Super Business Park? Did Knox county give $5 million for that park? Did not one of the large initial tenants cancel their move?

Hadn't heard about a large tenant canceling, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Site prep work appears to be underway, though.

For those who might be interested, here's a meeting recap I sent to the Knox Action email list.

Hello Neighbors,

Just a quick update about last night's meeting at Carter High School Auditorium that was put on by the Development Corporation for their proposed Midway Road Industrial Park. Many of us were seeing it for about the third time.

Not much new was being presented except for fancy drawings that don't show anything close to reality. They are still waffling about how to provide sewer. They were unable to answer direct, simple questions like "What is Knox County's return on investment on business parks?" Or, "What will TDC do if they can't persuade MPC to change the sector plan in the face of overwhelming community opposition?" Or, "What about the two parts of the successful lawsuit that are still pending?" Or, "How are you going to effectively manage the stormwater without flooding Tuckahoe Creek?" Or, "What about all the empty or near-empty business parks in Knox County and surrounding counties?" Etc.

One interesting thing that came out in the meeting was that the new TVA power lines cut a big swath through the middle of the project, which wasn't shown on their pretty drawings, by the way. Also, Todd Napier denied that the business park had anything to do with the new TVA high power line project.

By the time they get their on-site sewage processing plant and drip field, roads, the TVA easement, and the "low-impact" stormwater features installed, as well as their pledge to avoid sinkholes and "sensitive areas" and have lots of green space and buffers, there may only be a few acres left to develop!

One good thing is that we have gotten some decent press -- even some humor -- about Midway, both TV and print, and I think there will be more to come based on some reporters who were there last night.

Here's a list of what I've seen out there:

Knoxville News-Sentinel
Business Park Draws Critics
(link...)

Knoxville News-Sentinel
Humor: Proposed East Knox Amusement Park Criticized
(link...)

WBIR-TV (with video)
Midway Business Park Remains Undeveloped
(link...)

WVLT-TV (with video)
Proposed Business Park Still Has Detractors
(link...)

Knoxviews Web Site
Still Going Through the Motions on Midway?
(link...)

They did acknowledge that they are trying to get MPC to change the sector plan, so we need to redouble our efforts to attend the sector plan meetings and get our friends and neighbors involved. If we stay engaged and keep this issue on the front burner, we can prevail!