Bristol May Employ Eminent Domain To Get Easements
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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Reader Reactions
Should be titled Reaping a Harvest of Property Taxes.
1) I don’t trust this Kaufman dude and I intend to fond out all I can about him.
2) Be careful, City of Bristol. I understand the motivation, but this community will not stand for having our scenic beauty sacrificed for revenue. There are better ways.
You really don’t want me showing up at council meetings and giving speeches about how decriminalizing Marijuana within the city limits would make us rich, now do you? 
Don’t get any more carried away with this than you already have. We’ll all be down there, Liberal and Conservanoid alike if it gets out of hand.
Sorry, Im not new to the area, I’m a lifer. My comments were to New to Area.
Thanks for reinterating my points. I am an active member of the community, I have participated in the clean-ups for both Beaver Creek and South Holston Lake. I recycle cans for the local high school, I pick up trash when I walk my dogs on the beautiful bike trail our city provides us. Im a doer, not a talker.
Wow we go from Our Goverment Officials Taking any property they want, by force if they need to..To our reigions trees and apperance. Wow we really got our priorities inline dont we.
Efforts are being made by alot of Bristolians to really clean up and revamp this area. We have the South Holston Clean-Up every year, We’ve Sank Lots of money into beautifying the Down Town Area. Just a few weeks ago there were volunteers cleaning up Beaver creek. I agree with both of you here. To Eveaningstar, Welcome to the Area, We’re glad to have you And hope to see you at some of these events in the future. And if you have any other Ideas may I suggest you send them to the Chamber of Commerce or Bring it up at the Next City council meeting. Every Action starts with a good idea!
There are people that junk up homes everywehre in every city, we do not have an unusually high number of people that don’t care about their property. I guess I will have to take a ride later and try to figure out where there is enough median to put trees on West State Street that will not obstruct traffic view. And as you stated, we are a pretty “little” city. We are small in comparison to Kingsport or Johnson City and do not have the money they do to do some of the extras they do and that is fine with us because we do not have the crime they do either. I don’t find either of those cities anywhere as attractive as Bristol even without trees on West State Street. I do see your point and I have lived her all my life and intend to stay because I like it and find it wonderful, as I said if you do not you have many options. Have you ever taken a moment and picked up a piece of litter and dropped in the trash can? Have you ever participated in the Beaver Creek Clean-up? Have you ever participated in any activity to clean up our city? I sure hope so, to gripe about it and take no other action than to post a comment and complain wouldn’t be very Bristolian of you.
To Evaningstar,
Yes, I’ve noticed the trees on the Volunteer Parkway; I’m not speaking about the out of town areas of 11W not having trees. I’m speaking of the area around “hamburger row” and K-Mart. That’s a part of the city, a first impression of Bristol which is important I feel. Trees or bushes there would enhance entrance to Bristol from the interstate. As far as trash is concerned, there is excessive litter in this town, a fact. Bristol is a pretty little town and before you misconstrue my comments and get defensive about the “Deliverance” comment, you might want to reread what was written. Some might find my comments helpful in making Bristol an even nicer place in which to live. And, Bristol property taxes are higher than Johnson City and most of Kingsport, and beautification is more noticeable in the other tri-city towns. The comments made are a result of our love and appreciation for this area and our dismay is a few people are allowed to destroy the beauty of this wonderful place. Sometimes when one lives in a place for a very long period of time, they don’t really see reality. Example, people with junk on their porches have lived that way so long, they don’t understand or see their possessions as junk on the porch.
New To Area. You seemed to have noticed the trees lining Euclid Ave., have you noticed the trees lining Edgemont Avenue, new trees on Volunteer Parkway, the numerous trees that have been planted along our wonderful bike trail that runs through town that is provided and upkept by our city. I am glad the city is putting their dollars in town to beautify and not out on the highway. I have noticed a bit more trash on the highway than usual but I know services have had to be cut a little due to gas and everthing else, but I would rather them cut there than cut services that hurt the people. And your reference to deliverance is quite offensive and if that is how you feel then maybe you should move on to a more acceptable area where us corn shuckin, banjo pickin toothless crazies caint getcha. Oh, and the tax thing, Tennessee Sales tax is higher by far but we do not pay a State Income Tax nor a Personal Property Tax every year. The city has to get that tree money somewhere. 
I’m pleased to see people concerned about some of the things happening in Bristol. As a relative newcomer, I’d like to give my opinion on a few things I’ve seen since moving here. First, this area is exceptionally beautiful which is one of the reasons we decided to move here. However, I cannot understand why there is so much litter along the roadways. If one wants to reinforce a stereotypical image of an appalachia with a “Deliverance” environment, this is a good way to do it. Another is the variety of front porch areas used as local junkyards. In addition to branding the resident as “Fred Sanford reborn”, such as this should be considered a public health nusiance because it could attract vermin of various types. I’ve also noticed how Virginia plants trees on Euclid while Tennessee (with about twice the tax rate)can’t seem to put a few trees in the esplanade on 11W. I hope the concern citizens express about governmental actions will soon expand to include more citizens conderned about the aesthetics of this beautiful city. One can hope that this will force city government to take action to remedy these problems and to punish those responsible.
If I understand this correctly, the City of Bristol, TN is going to take property belonging to someone outside the City of Bristol, TN to appease an outsider whose planned building project in our beautiful city is absolutely ludicrous. Way to go City Council. I thought with the new blood in there things like this would stop happening. But after reading this article you can see the old blood is still there just in different positions. What a shame, they not only disregard the wants of their own community they are going outside of it and doing damage. It’s hard to be proud of your city at a time like this.
This is The scariest thing ever! When should anyone have a right to come in and take whats not thiers to begin with….Folks thats call stealing and the City of Bristol is doing that very thing if they proceed.
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