Thorn Grove fights back
The people of the Thorn Grove community in East Knox County have filed a lawsuit to protect their community autonomy. This is the way business must be conducted in Knox County when the local government refuses to represent the people. One of the developers that owns parcels which will be used for the Midway Industrial Park is Harry Sherrod. The same Harry Sherrod who threatened Gary Seller’s during the Wheel Tax petition and who was a key figure in Mayor Ragsdale’s efforts to stop the Wheel Tax petition.
One of the key requirements for the Development Corporation was that the land have no more than 6 degrees of slope. This site in Thorn Grove is some of the most rolling land in Knox County. But only four Knox County Commissioners actually visited the site. The vote was pure politics. Commissioners voted for the Industrial Park because County Mayor Ragsdale told them to.
The 11 million dollars needed to purchase the 370 acres meant no money was left to keep the County Mayor’s promise of fully funding the Hardin Valley High School. Mayor Ragsdale is doing everything in his power to build this High School for only 1,300 students. The result being that there will be no relief for school overcrowding for Karns, Bearden, and Farragut until 2011, well into the administration of the next Knox County Mayor.
Which is more important, to help a friend with a business deal, or to keep a promise to solve school overcrowding? Mayor Ragsdale has given his answer and only a court case can stop him.
On September 11, 2006, attorney David L. Buuck filed a lawsuit in Knox
County Chancery Court on behalf of several residents of the Thorn Grove
/ Midway Road community against the Knox County Commission and the
Metropolitan Planning Commission.The suit contests the August rezoning by Knox County Commission of
approximately 378 acres of land at Midway Road for an industrial park at
the behest of The Development Corporation of Knox County (TDC) and 9.5
acres adjoining the proposed industrial park by developer Victor Jernigan.“We believe that both the MPC and Knox County Commission violated the
East Knox County Sector Plan when they arbitrarily rezoned this property
for an expensive and ill-conceived project,” said Donna Bohon, president
of the 8th District Preservation Association. “This goes completely
against the thoughtful and thorough planning document that the community
spent hundreds of hours creating in conjunction with the MPC.”The Complaint alleges, among other things, that the rezoning action by
the MPC and Knox County Commission “constitutes an instance of arbitrary
and unreasonable spot zoning” and “confers a special privilege
furthering the private interests of the applicants TDC and Jernigan,
while depriving plaintiffs and other property owners in the neighborhood
of their rights, values and privileges in and to their properties. . . ”Longtime Thorn Grove residents Wayne and Janis Waggoner are two of
more than a score of property owners listed as plaintiffs on the suit, and
they have been very active in opposing the industrial park. “This is a
risky project that is completely speculative. They are going to destroy
our community for another ‘if we build it, they will come’ project. They
are wasting tax dollars when we have far better uses for that money in
Knox County,” said Wayne Waggoner.The suit also asks for an injunction preventing Knox County and MPC from
issuing any building permits on the property until the suit is settled.
