The city may use the power of eminent domain to acquire construction easements for a pending sewer project near Steele Creek Park.
During its meeting Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously approved use of the power to seize private property for public use should negotiations fail.
City officials plan to install about 4,700 feet of sewer trunk line from state Route 126 near Akard Elementary School to serve about 75 recently annexed acres near the park’s golf course.
While the line will serve land inside the city, any legal action would involve Sullivan County residents.
“The staff has not been able to make contact with some property owners despite numerous attempts to do so,” City Manager Jeff Broughton said. “This [resolution] gives us the authority to move forward with eminent domain after we exhaust other options.”
Eminent domain is a legal tactic that allows a government entity to seize private property without the owner’s consent, but the property owner must be compensated.
The city has secured most of the 18 easements needed to install the line, but a few holdouts remain, Broughton said.
“That would be a last resort,” Mayor Joel Staton said after the meeting.
Councilwoman Margaret Feierabend said just the threat of eminent domain often brings action.
“It’s a tool to force everybody to negotiate. It’s a way of settling it,” Feierabend said.
Councilman David Shumaker urged the city’s staff to explore any solution that “doesn’t involve going to court.”
Efforts to contact and negotiate with the property owners will continue, Broughton said.
“Likely we will not be able to negotiate a fair price for all of them,” Broughton predicted. “The last time the city did this was the White Top Creek sewer project, where we had the same problem. In that case, I think we had one holdout, but we may need to go to court to secure these easements.”
Once completed, the sewer line will serve a parcel of land where owner Scott Kaufman plans to build more than 250 homes.
County property owners adjacent to the trunk line could pay to hook on, Broughton said, in response to a question.
Opponents to the housing project believe the development will greatly increase traffic and some fear they will be required to pay sewer tap-on fees, Broughton said.
The city’s Planning Commission approved a special-use exception in August that allowed the development to proceed.
Under the city’s agreement with the developer, Kaufman will pay to install the sewer line and the city will repay him up to $200,000, the city manager said.
In other action, the council approved an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to make traffic safety improvements on 24th Street between Shelby and Bay streets.
The project includes enlarging the turning radius from Shelby Street, relocating utility poles, installing new signs and resurfacing sections of the street.
The city must provide $10,400 toward the $106,800 total cost.
The council also approved two contracts with a Maryville, Tenn., firm for work on separate sewer projects. J.R. Wauford & Co. will be paid more than $38,000 to design and engineer a new sewer system for the Apple Ridge subdivision and to replace existing sewer lines along a section of Holston Avenue between West Cedar and Haynes streets.
In other matters, the council unanimously approved a resolution to name a bridge near Steele Creek Park in honor of longtime Sullivan County Commissioner Ralph Harr, who died late last year.
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