RidgeTop Repercussions (Page 2 of 5)
January 24, 2008By:
“[Ridge lines are] one of the biggest features of our area, one of the biggest things people notice is our tree-covered ridges contributing to the character of the area,” says Starbuck. “And because ridges stick up in the air, when you make a mistake, it’s visible for miles.”
Ravenous Appetite
Knox County is a 526 square-mile mixture of river-bottoms, flood plains, forested ridge tops, steep slopes and level ground. Michael McKinney, a geology professor from the University of Tennessee and director of the environmental studies program, says the rocks in the area are about as old as dirt.
“These are early Paleozoic rocks, they’re about 500 million years old. The rock is limestone, we have a lot of caves and sinkholes,” he says. “The ridges are more resistant and aren’t eroded as easily; they’re made with sandstone and shale.” McKinney says the nearby Smoky Mountains — part of the Appalachian mountain chain — were formed by continental collision almost 250,000 years ago, making them the oldest in the world and helping form the region’s unique topographical assets. “We live in a valley and ridge province… since they’re so old, they’ve been heavily dissected from weather and the Tennessee River flowing for thousands of years.”
Both Hultquist and County Commissioners Mark Harmon and Tony Norman are making future protection of Knox County’s ridges a political priority this month. Hultquist plans to bring a resolution on the matter to City Council by the end of January, and Harmon has added a resolution to the discussion agenda for commission’s Jan. 28 meeting.
“What we’ve got to get going is both the city and county,” Harmon says. Once a resolution is formed, he’s asked MPC comprehensive planner Mike Carberry to compile a best practices report for the optimal environmental, economic and aesthetic conditions.
“We’re anticipating that [MPC] may work on it, resolutions haven’t been passed so far,” Carberry says. “We’d want to work with developers, the scientific community — soils, forestry— and a broad range of citizens concerned with aesthetics.”
Residents like Starbuck and Wolfenbarger have voiced concern that most of the land left for development in the county rests on these ridgelines. But Carberry says while there is a lot of hilly terrain in the county — moderate to steep slopes affect one-fourth of the land — their claims are far too broad.
“Most development needs sewer utilities, and in the South and northeastern parts of the county, there is very little sewer, so there’s sparse development,” he says. “Out towards Corryton, there’s lots of level land, good farmland, in fact.” Carberry says the cost of installing utilities could favor preservation of the ridges as well, although a $2.2 million price tag didn’t prevent the construction of the controversial ridge-top water tower in South Knoxville. “Utility costs are up, it’s very expensive to get lines up to ridges, and most are undeveloped. Some utilities would discourage it because of the cost of running water and sewer lines,” he says.
The environmental issues related to ridge-top development, such as preservation of soil, trees and wildlife, are also taken into account by planning agencies, Carberry says.
“I don’t think we’re starting with the premise that hillsides are off limits — it can be developed, but more sensitively, done so that you don’t have problems with run-off, aesthetics… [and] the gamut of environmental issues,” he says.
For a ridge top protection ordinance to move forward, it ultimately depends on governing bodies like City Council and county commission.
Carberry says the proposed resolutions will be sent to MPC for review, followed by draft provisions, plans or codes and concluding with a report back to local government and the planning commission, all subject to public hearings and input from citizens.
