City of Elizabethton 2015 in Review

Wow! It’s hard to believe another year has passed by already. And it has been a busy one for the city! Today I’d like to do a rundown of some of the top things the city has accomplished this past year.

To start off, the City Council voted to decrease property taxes by 2 cents this past year. After the budgets were completed for the 2015/2016 budget year, City Council decided that some of the additional revenues not budged for operations should be returned to the property owners in the form of a tax cut. The rationale was that this would also help out homeowners pay for an increase in water rates which also happened during the same budget cycle.

This past year has also been a good year for the city’s finances as well. As our community continues to slowly move out of the recession, financial revenue projections are surpassed. Other financial moves were made this year to help improve the city’s financial state. Some Electric Ratepayer Debt was refinanced this year in order to take advantage of low bond rates. This refinancing saved Elizabethton Electric ratepayers over $799,000 in interest payments over the life of the bonds.

Also, the city applied for multiple different grants this year and were awarded three! These grants totaled over $417,000. While many of these require the city match money, many of the projects the grants will be used for are projects that the city would need to complete at some point in the future. Rather than city taxpayers paying for the entire amount the state will be paying for a portion of these projects.

This year the city also updated and adopted new building code regulations, property maintenance regulations, and disability accessibility code regulations. These regulations ensure that buildings are constructed as they were designed to be and that they were constructed safely for the resident or occupant of the building. These regulations also help the city enforce a minimum standard of external appearance of buildings within the city. The disability accessibility regulations ensure that facilities constructed in Elizabethton will be accessible to all citizens regardless of disability.

This past year also brought the completion of two major projects. The first was the completion of the Eastside Waterloss project. This project was targeting the dramatic water loss that we saw in many of Eastside’s old water lines. This was a large project which utilized various funding mechanisms including grants. I’m sure many of our citizens in Eastside were glad to see this project completed! The completion of the Tweetsie Trail was also another major win for the City and our citizens. You can now ride from Snap-On to Old Navy in Johnson City along a variety of paths and trails.

Some other projects this year included the completion of the new Citizen’s Bank Stadium, the beginning of the EHS Band Room, the implementation of new library software, and a variety of other projects. As we look to the new year, what progress would you like to see your city make? Let’s talk about it!

Public Participation is Required in a Democracy

In the short time I have been working full-time in Elizabethton there has been one outstanding thing I have noticed -- public participation. There seems to be a lack of participation from citizens and property owners when it comes to government officials asking for an hour or less of their time a year.

This nation was founded on a principle that the people and the citizens who live in this county govern themselves. This theme is echoed from the Federal level of government all the way down to the Local city/county level of government. The people of Elizabethton and the people of Carter County govern themselves.

Within the past 5 years, the Elizabethton Planning Department has been involved in numerous public input session. The first was the involvement of our Elizabethton’s Vision project. During this project we visited each of the elementary schools, the senior center, the Elizabethton High School, and the recreation center during the evening and mornings asking citizens to give us feedback on what they wanted to see Elizabethton look like in 20 years. Additionally, public input opportunities were also available on the city’s website. There was great participation among city boards and representatives, but little participation from citizens despite extensive public advertising.

More recently, the Elizabethton Regional Planning Commission asked citizens to participate in drafting new sign regulations. Input was sought via a public comment session one evening and an online questionnaire and comment section. Again, there was little public input from citizens about what types of signs they wanted in their community and little input from local businesses letting us know what their needs were.

During the 2012 presidential election, an election that typically draws the most number of people to the voting booths, somewhere between 3,600 and 4,700 city citizens voted for a city councilperson in this election. To give you an idea of how many people that is, 11,235 people in Elizabethton are eligible voters and 7,879 are registered voters. At best, less than 42 percent of the eligible voters (people over 18 years old) and 60 percent of people who are registered in Elizabethton couldn’t give an hour to participate in their local government -- the form of government which has the most impact on your daily lives.

A woman once asked Benjamin Franklin shortly after the 1787 Constitutional Convention closed whether the convention had chosen a Republic or a Monarchy for this newly birthed country. His reply was, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” We are all frustrated by the “big money influences” corrupting government, but if we are not willing to participate in our local government by giving feedback and voting, then we have signed over the right to govern ourselves to others who are willing and wanting to do so.

As we go into a new year, think about ways you can participate in your local government even if it’s just for an hour or two a year. Tell the City Council or County Commission your thoughts on issues before them, participate in a public input session, or simply show up to vote for the best candidate. Let’s govern ourselves and try to keep our little Republic here in Carter County. Let’s talk about it!

Educating Our Workforce is a Must by 2020

Sticking with the theme of goals from the Elizabethton’s Vision project, another goal was to have an educated and skilled workforce. In my new role as economic development director for the city, I could not agree more!

Having a well educated and skilled workforce make Elizabethton and Carter County much more attractive to a potential industry or businesses interested in locating here. Part of my job, especially when I’m working on activities for the Carter County Joint Economic and Community Development Board (Carter County Tomorrow), is somewhat similar to selling a used car. My job is to sell Elizabethton and Carter County to potential industries and businesses. If you’re trying to sell your car, you will tell a potential buyer about every little thing you’ve improved in the car. It may be a few new belts, a freshly installed fuel injector, or even simply a new air filter, but you’ll be sure to mention it!

Having an educated and skilled workforce allows me to tell prospective industries that we have the workforce they’re looking for. That we have the talent here locally that can help their business succeed and, in turn, help them succeed. An educated and skilled workforce can be almost as important as having a suitable site for a business to build on.

Looking to a future workforce, a Georgetown University study projects that by the year 2020, 3 out of every 5 jobs will require some type of post-high school education. This could be in the form of a Vocational Certificate from an institution like Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology or an Associate's Degree from a college like Northeast State Community College. To make it better 1½ of those 3 jobs (or 1½ out of every 5 jobs) will require a Bachelor’s Degree or higher from a college like Milligan College or East Tennessee State University.

The Carter County workforce has a little work to do. Currently, 2 of every 5 people have some type of post-high school education while 3 of every 5 people have a high school diploma or less. Another concern is that the highest paying and fastest growing jobs require an Associate’s Degree or higher.

The State of Tennessee has realized this and has last year implemented the Tennessee Promise program to encourage students to seek higher education levels with limited financial investment. The state has also implemented a program called Tennessee Reconnect which is targeted to get adults who have some college education back into the classroom to finish their degrees and to help adults gain new skills from our local TCAT facility. For more information on Tennessee Reconnect, visit www.TennesseeReconnect.gov or visit TCAT here in Elizabethton. What else can we be doing to prepare our workforce to meet future demands? Let’s talk about it!
 

Improving Buildings and Appearance in Elizabethton

About 3 years ago, city planning staff began conducting a visioning plan for Elizabethton. What this would ultimately do, is identify where the community would like to be in, say, 20 years and develop goals and objectives to get the community to that future vision.

Some interesting, although maybe not surprising, goals came out of that project. One of those goals was to improve the building frontage and appearance throughout the city. If I remember correctly, this goal actually originated out of a session I did with a group of students at Elizabethton High School. It was voted by many adults as well and made it into one the top 10 goals.

So what are we doing to improve the appearance of buildings and properties throughout the city? Well, there are four main perspectives we are utilizing to help improve the aesthetics of our community. The first is our sign regulations. We are currently in the process of adopting new regulations which will require landscaped areas around new signs. They also require that a standard pole sign must be enclosed so that the exposed pole cannot be seen (and therefore will help prevent rusting).

As I’ve written about before, we are continuing to step up our property maintenance regulations. This past summer we adopted updates to our current regulations and hired a new property maintenance enforcement officer. From April to October, we also conduct property maintenance sweeps in which we canvas an entire neighborhood looking for property maintenance violations and alert those property owners about repairs that need to be made. Those alerts are followed up with additional notices and citations if the repairs are not made.

About 3 years ago we rewrote the regulations for junk and abandoned cars. Effective January 1, 2016, the last of these regulations go into effect requiring that businesses who take more than 7 days to fix or repair a damaged or junked vehicle, must store those vehicles in a building or behind a visual barrier so that the cars cannot be seen from the road.

Lastly, we are planning to rewrite the landscaping requirements for both parking lots and frontage areas along streets for businesses. While this is early, we will be looking to incentivize larger trees to be planted in both areas which will provide more greenery along the city’s busiest streets.

Having a attractive city help create civic pride and attracts others to our community. What other steps can we as a local government and private businesses do to improve the appearance throughout the city? Let’s talk about it!

Take the Local Challenge...Spend 20% Locally This Christmas

This past Saturday was Small Business Saturday. I hope everyone took this opportunity to go out and shop with some of our local small businesses! If you forgot or didn’t have time with all of the Thanksgiving rush, there is still a lot of time left and it’s a great way to help your community.

When you purchase services or products from a local, small business you contribute to the Elizabethton and Carter County economy and make it stronger. Each time you make a purchase at a local, small business retail store approximately 48 cents of every dollar stays within our local economy compared to purchasing at a non-local, big box store where approximately 13 cents of every dollar stays within the local economy. That 48 cents can then be spent again locally by the retail store purchasing materials to make new products or making improvements to their building.

Additionally, when you decide to purchase products from any businesses in Elizabethton or Carter County you pay a small portion of your purchase in sales tax. The sales tax is used by your city and county government to pay for repaving roads, fire fighting services, police and sheriff services, and the school systems. By shopping with a local business, you also help keep that business alive and in turn that business pays property taxes which also help support the government services you rely on.

Lastly, when you make purchases with local, small businesses you help create a more stable and resilient local economy. Using the example in my first point, if you shop locally, and other businesses you spend your money with shop locally, and they purchase products from local businesses...well you get the idea. All of that money multiplies creating an internal economy that can be more resistant to impacts to the national or state economy. Asheville is an excellent example of this. During the Great Recession starting in 2008-2012, the Asheville, NC economy actually grew and expanded. Jobs were created, new construction was occurring while the rest of the state and nation slowed or declined. Asheville’s economy is strongly based on tourism and a buy local mentality.

This year, I’m challenging everyone in Elizabethton and Carter County to spend at least 20% of their holiday gift purchases with a local, small business -- that’s $200 if you spend $1,000 total or $100 if you spend $500 total. This could be a gift certificate to a local restaurant in Roan Mountain or a unique hand-made craft from a boutique store in Downtown Elizabethton. As you begin your shopping season, stop in and take a look at what some of our local, small businesses have to offer! You might be surprised to find just what you were looking for. Let’s talk about it!

Higher Density Could Bring Positives for Elizabethton

Density -- the word itself brings to mind large high rises in the middle of a large bustling city. But I want to convince you that density does not just apply to large metropolitan areas, but can be extremely beneficial, useful, and even bring more life to our city.

I was recently reading the Urban Land magazine when I came across an article entitled, “Density is Critical for Cities to Realize Advantages and Avoid Decline.” The article summarized a report recently released talking about the importance density plays in the success or failure of a city or community. The article gave me four takeaways that we can apply to Elizabethton.

First is finding the right locations for mixed-used development. Often this terms confuses people. Mixed-use development is development that accommodates multiple uses such as residential and commercial. Downtown is a great example of mixed-use development. We need to identify areas in our community that can viably utilize mixed-use development and create regulations to accommodate and encourage this type of development.

Next, we must have a plan to accommodate higher density levels in our community and share those plans with developers. We must develop a plan for higher density and work to improve infrastructure create more accommodating land-uses. We also must share this information with developers which will help encourage them to create higher density development in areas of the community that can accommodate it.

We must also look at density on a regional scale. We must not confine our planning and views to only the city limits, but look beyond those limits to observe the type of development that is occurring there. We must work with our county officials and neighboring cities to ensure that our development can be compatible with other development within the region.

Lastly, we must reimagine our community. Elizabethton is a great small city with many benefits that our surrounding communities do not have, but we must step back to look to the future of our community. One where higher density and midsize building developments occur. This doesn’t mean we lose our identity as a small city, it means that we look for ways to increase our sustainability as a city and ways to grow and become more attractive for others to move here.

Higher density provides many benefits to our city. Promoting more businesses and residences already within our city limits mean property taxes are shared between more property owners, utility expenses are shared between more customers, and more houses means more retail and shopping opportunities will be attracted to Elizabethton. We are already starting to see the effects of low density development in our community. How should we proceed in creating higher density locally? Let’s talk about it!

Less Fighting About Economic Development...More Working Together!

City Officials and Carter County Tomorrow (which I will refer to as the Carter County Joint Economic and Community Development Board) Officials were interested to hear this past Friday that the Carter County Commission would hear two resolutions at the next meeting Monday morning. One creating the Carter County Economic and Community Development Board and another creating various Adventure Tourism Districts within the County.

While these moves were not necessarily a surprise, we felt frustrated that Carter County felt the need to prepare a resolution to create such a board. Both city and the Carter County Joint Economic and Community Development Board (JECDB) officials have extended our hands to the County ready and willing to partner with them and move forward. We recognize that in a county with less than 60,000 people it will be difficult for either entity or even the Carter County JECDB to afford to tackle large Economic Development projects alone.

We encourage the County Mayor or a representative of his and County Commissioner Representatives to attend the JECDB meetings and take an active role. Set aside what has happened or who was involved in the past and let’s work together to move forward. There is a lot of work to be done, and no time to argue about what has happened in the past.

If improvements are needed, make the suggestion. If changes must be made, start the dialog. Either way, economic development will come to a slow if city, county, and JECDB officials are all not working together to move our entire county forward in one direction. We all may not agree exactly on the structure of the organization, but that can be changed. We may not agree on the effectiveness of the organization, but the board and city officials have been taking a hard look at alternatives to make it more effective ever since Mr. Anderson left.

There is one thing we all can agree on, and that is we all want to bring more jobs to Carter County. Let’s make this our focus and all work together on the JECDB to achieve this goal. I applaud the Carter County Commission for taking a step in the right direction by creating Adventure Tourism Districts. Now let’s all sit down together and determine what the next step we need to take is to bring more jobs to our community. Let’s talk about it!

Street Level Activities Helps Downtown Businesses

This past Sunday I went downtown to visit some of the businesses at the Annual Downtown Open House. As I drove into downtown to find a parking place, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how many people were walking around, darting in and out of shops, and driving around (probably looking for a parking spot like me). I stopped in and talked with many of the open businesses and everyone was talking about how positive their businesses had be impacted by the day. One owner said, “If nothing else, the people walking past and into my business can see what I sell so when they need it I’ll be here.”

How true that is. Events like this not only get shoppers excited, but also get the business owners excited. Having people and activities downtown generates excitement and interest. The staff and commissions in the city are working to change regulations in order to encourage street activities just like what we saw on Sunday to get people out and walking on the streets. More street activity by pedestrians generates more people walking by and dropping in to local downtown businesses...even if they don’t purchase anything the first time.

The excitement that is generated off of pedestrian activities makes it more attractive for other local businesses to move to the downtown district. The same is true for potentially interested developers.

Big national and regional chains look at four major components when selecting a new location. One of those is traffic counts, the number of cars that pass by the business everyday. For downtown, this translates a little differently. Because of the nature of a downtown, most buildings are only 25 feet wide and our concrete canopy additionally blocks the view of the business. The key for a downtown district and our downtown businesses isn’t going to be cars that pass per day, but rather people that walk pass per day.

As we continue to work to make downtown a better place, what other ideas do you have to help get people to stop their cars and walk through downtown? Let’s talk about it!

Creating Great Spaces in Elizabethton

What makes a great public space? Some might say that a great place can only be found in the eye of the beholder. But a professor at the University of Denver has studied American and European models of public spaces and has drawn some interesting conclusions about what makes a public space great.

The first component to a great public space is centrality. A great public space must be central to the people which are intended to utilize the space. Popular right now in the Planning world is the concept that citizens should be able to reach about 90 percent of their daily activities within a 20 minute walk time. This serves to identify a central area in a neighborhood which would be ideal for a great public space.

Secondly, a great public space must be connected. By this I mean a great public space should be well connected by transportation networks. This specifically doesn’t mean cars either. A great public space should be well connected to other street networks, trail networks, transit routes, and sidewalk networks. It needs to be easy for citizens to access on multiple levels from walking to driving and should be an area hard to avoid when leaving your neighborhood or community.

Lastly, having cachet is a vital component of a great public space. Cachet, in this context, means having a distinction or a uniqueness about the public space. Think about what would make one public space different from any other. It may be a fountain, a statue, a mural, unique architectural facades, or other elements. In many European cities civic buildings or churches surround the public space creating beautiful, unique “walls” to the public space each uniquely different from the other. In New York City, the “walls” of Times Square are animated with fluorescent and flashing lights displaying larger-than-life advertisements providing something unique to to Times Square visitors.

Great public spaces don’t only have to be squares in the middle of a city, but can be specific, tight areas that incorporate these elements, such as our downtown or the West G Street commercial district near Kiwanis Park. We need to think about how we can incorporate centrality, connectivity, and cachet into areas in our communities to take them from public spaces to great public spaces. Let’s talk about it

City and County Must Work Together for Economic Development

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Governor’s Conference on Economic Development in Nashville. It was a very exciting conference and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TN-ECD) unveiled a series of new programs in order to help Tennessee communities and counties. Some were simply technical assistance while others were lucrative grant programs.

There are three big programs I want to discuss. The first is the Drive to 55 program. This program is a part of TN-ECD and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and is associated with programs such at Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect, and Tennessee LEAP. The overarching goal of this program is the large need for the Tennessee workforce to attain higher levels of education either in the form of college or job certifications. The point of this program is that by 2025 it is estimated 50 percent of the workforce must have some type of college or vocational training in order to be an attractive place for businesses to locate. For ages 25+ years, Carter County currently stands at 41 percent so over the next ten years we need to increase this number to 50 or preferably 55.

Another program is the Main Street program. This is a popular program used around the nation with the purpose of helping small businesses on “Main Street” in every community prosper. This program was originally started to help communities revitalize their downtowns and served as a model to help make downtowns a destination and attractive in a community. The model and techniques used have proven to be highly successful in a range of communities. This program also comes with additional grant funding opportunities. Elizabethton does not currently participate in the Main Street program, but city staff have encouraged Main Street program guidelines to various downtown organizations.

The last program for today is the Select Tennessee program. This program helps counties in Tennessee identify and prepare properties prime for industrial development. These properties must then be provided with utilities, have environmental studies completed, be provided with transportation options, and owned or optioned by a governmental entity. The state will then certify such a site and help market the site to potential industries. Grant funding can also be provided to counties wishing to help pay for these expensive process.

This is just a glimpse of the programs the state has to help and encourage cities and counties in the state. The key, though, is that we must work together to accomplish these things. Many are expensive or require a combined effort at the state level. The city cannot do it without the county, and the county cannot do it without the city, but together we can make our county economy better. Let’s talk about it!

High Density Residential Could Breath New Life into Downtown

The last few weeks I’ve talked about transportation options for Elizabethton’s future, but one major element of the conversation has been left out -- land use. Land use is a term used in the planning community which tells us how specific pieces of property are being used by our citizens and businesses. For example, I would categorize most of the Blackbottom neighborhood as a single-family residential land use or the West Elk Avenue area as a retail commercial land use.

Land use gives us an idea of what types of uses the property currently is and commonly a descriptor lets us know what the density or category it is being used as. Land use is critical to transportation. If there is a high density residential land-use, for example, cities need to create wider streets for more cars, wider sidewalks for more pedestrians, and bike lanes for people to bike.

As we look to the coming year, the Planning Commission has shown interest in moving forward with creating higher densities in and around the downtown area. This type of density would allow for small condo buildings, townhomes, and apartments. Unlike other parts of residential we’re encouraging in downtown, this area will be strictly residential. With higher densities of people come the need for more and better sidewalks, the installation of bike lanes, and the need to make our streets more user friendly for multiple people, not just cars. Even golf carts can have a role to play in helping create this higher density residential district.

This type of land use will impact the types of transportation infrastructure we, as a city, offer and could result in narrower roads with different parking arrangements for Elk Avenue and E Street, the addition of bike lanes to Sycamore Street and Main Street, one or two transit bus stops in downtown, and don’t forget the addition of golf carts.

Now, all of this will certainly not happen at once and it may even take a decade to put all of the infrastructure in place. But higher density residential areas can bring a lot of positives to our community. The more people who live here, the more ways the city taxes are split, the more ways utility infrastructure costs are split, and it can help bring life back to our downtown buildings and businesses. Let’s talk about it!

Is Public Transportation Viable in Elizabethton?

Last week I talked about a new alternative form of transportation -- golf carts. Continuing on the transportation theme, I want to pose another idea -- is public transportation a viable option in Elizabethton?

We are at a unique crossroad for our community. The addition of the Tweetsie Trail has made alternative forms of transportation, such as pedestrian and bicycle, a reality. Before the Tweetsie Trail, no one would have ever thought to ride a bike on West G Street, West Elk Avenue, Milligan Highway, or even the US 321 four-lane to Johnson City. Now any citizen or visitor can easily get from ETSU to Downtown Elizabethton on a bike safely.

But this new feature has brought about other questions in our community about transportation. If public transportation in the form of a bus route came to Elizabethton would it be used enough to make it a viable solution for transportation.

We talked before about the future of Elizabethton as it relates to age and the future of the Tri-Cities region points to a growing Baby Boomer presence. As we look to accommodate for this population, we must also look to how they will move about a community and get the services they may need.

As they age, some may not desire driving a fast car which is where a golf cart or a bike may be an alternative form of transportation. Continue that trend and you end up with a portion of the population who may be unable to drive which is where public transportation enters as an alternative form of transportation.

More likely than not, as we age we tend to need more access to alternative modes of transportation in order to get to appointments and complete general household tasks. Public transportation provides this type of mobility so that an aging population can easily get to a doctor’s appointment, physical therapy appointment, or just go to the grocery store within their own ability.

And keep in mind, public transit is also highly beneficial for poorer citizens as well who may well work, but simply cannot afford a car. Public transit provides a highly affordable way to go about completing one’s daily tasks.

Public transit helps keep an older and poorer population mobile and self-reliant, which can also be good for their mental health. I would be extremely curious to know how many people would be interested in utilizing such a service should it be available in Elizabethton. The big question remains, if it were available would we use it? Let’s talk about it!

Alternative Forms of Transportation in...Golf Carts??

I’ve talked a lot about the importance and need for multiple forms of transportation in Elizabethton. We obviously have a vast network of streets for cars and trucks, miles of sidewalks for pedestrians, and two different trail systems for pedestrians and bikers. But what about other modes of transportation that you don’t typically see on streets? What about golf carts?

Now you may be thinking golf carts are only used by old people, why would we want to encourage this type of transportation here? Well, actually, there is a lot of positives to doing this. Many bigger cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, and even Greenville, South Carolina are creating neighborhoods where golf carts can be used as a mode of transportation.

Golf carts provide yet another form of transportation between bicycles and cars. With a typical maximum speed of 25 mph, they are attractive for older citizens who may not desire the higher speeds or bigger size of a car for a majority of their daily activities.

Limited speeds of golf carts also limit the range in which someone will travel for their daily activities. For example, if you live near downtown and drove a golf cart, you may be more inclined to shop and eat there rather than traveling to Walmart or Johnson City. This encourages more localized living which helps the Elizabethton economy.

Because of their size, golf carts also take up a little more than a third of the space cars do. This would allow for less space dedicated to parking spaces and more space for building and development, which means more people could park and shop within our existing parking infrastructure than currently can.

Ultimately, golf carts provide yet another form of transportation which makes Elizabethton more comfortable for all generations and all people to live in. We want people who will move to Elizabethton when they graduate from college, raise a family here, and grow old here. This creates what we in the planning world call a lifecycle community. And just like different housing is needed for each phase of life, different types of transportation can help move us closer to a lifecycle community. Let’s talk about it!

Positive Economies don’t just happen. They take work.

Since my time in Elizabethton I have heard many talk about the need for new industry and especially high paying industry. While I certainly can see the need and desire for new industry, we must first take a step back and evaluate our economy and determine the feasibility of recruiting new industry.


Recently, Site Selection Magazine (a premier professional magazine read by professional site selectors and economic developers) listed the top criteria that industries look for when determining a location. In order they are: (1) state and local tax schemes, (2) transportation infrastructure, (3) utility infrastructure, (4) land/building prices & supply, (5) ease of permitting & regulatory procedures, (6) existing workforce skills, (7) local economic development strategy, (8) legal climate, (9) availability of incentives, and (10) state economic development strategy.


We must reflect on these criteria and ask ourselves can we provide these criteria better than anyone else in the region can? For some, the answer is yes, but when we get to number land/building prices & supply we have a problem -- we have very little to offer.


On a scale of one consulting firm, many sites in our community rank as tier 1 on a scale of tiers 0 to 5. We have some land and some sellers who may be willing to sell the property, but neither Elizabethton, Carter County, Watauga, or Carter County Tomorrow have control of the property which is key to ensure the price of the property for an industry.


Industries typically will give priority to a site which is a tier 4 or tier 5. This requires the property to have environmental studies completed, all infrastructure including roads, water, sewer, gas, fiber optics, and electricity be brought directly to the site, any required permits acquired, and the site ready for immediate construction any day.


To get from where we are currently to a tier 4 or tier 5 site could take four or more years and, yes, it will take hundreds of thousands or even millions of public and private dollars, but the payoff new industries and hundreds of new jobs is well worth the expense. Positive economic growth very rarely happens by chance. It take time, money, endurance and a community with a vision to drive the local economy in the direction they desire.


Some people are for a county-wide economic development agency, some are for a regional, Tri-Cities-wide economic development agency, and still others are for doing little or no economic development. Whatever side you take, we must understand that we compete for capital, jobs, and businesses with every other city, every other county not only in the State of Tennessee, but in the nation and even the world. Regardless of which choice we make for the future of economic development in this county, our local economy will continue to develop in some direction with or without government assistance. The question is, will it develop into the economy we desire to have? The choice is ours. Let’s talk about it!

Lessons in Urban Planning from Europe

As some of you may know, I recently went on a two-week vacation and during my vacation I visited Europe. In a job like mine, it’s hard to ever stop working. This vacation was no exception. Everywhere I went I was looking at how the buildings meshed with the urban landscape, paced off street and sidewalk widths, and observed how the people interacted in highly urbanized spaces. I learned some interesting lessons about how Europeans function in highly dense cities.

Public space is essential and revered. Public space is a defining part of European cities. Although it varies based on the density of the city, within bigger cities you can find some type of public open space within 700 feet of walking from almost any point. Public space defines neighborhoods, businesses, and allows high densities of people to happen. Public space is highly revered to the people of the neighborhood. It serves as the living room of the entire neighborhood. A place for people to meet before heading to another destination, a place for neighbors to talk and catch up on the latest news, or simply a place to sit while you finish eating your lunch. At anytime of the day or night, you will find people utilizing these public spaces.

Public art is key to uniqueness. Something else you will find in public space if art. It may be an ancient statue, it may be a beautiful fountain, or it may be a detailed mural or mosaic on the side of a building, but it’s still public art. In some of the cities we visited remnants of the Roman Empire were featured as the public art, but in others it was more modern styles that matched the neighborhood architecture which were the featured public art. Regardless of the specific style or type, each public square featured something new and different unique to that public space.

Architecture is art. Speaking of public art, in many of the cities we traveled the architecture of the buildings also served as public. Well over a majority of the buildings were over 100 years old and consisted of highly detailed facades including around the cornice, window castings, window portals, and the main portal (the entry doors). The buildings in-and-of themselves were beautiful art for the public to consume and enjoy. Each building was different and unique, but they all had a similar style and one design element to pull them all together. Many would even have statues carved into the facade of the building or standing atop the facade. Imagine if all of the buildings in our downtown had the same attention to detail and decoration as does the upper part of the Kress Building. This gives you a glimpse of what every building looked like.

As I was talking with a local guide about the detail and heaviness of the buildings he made a comment that struck me. He said, “Why would you put so much time, money, and energy into constructing a building that is plain and lifeless and is only usable for the next 100 years? The original builder gave this building it’s own character and made it big and strong enough so that it could be used by future generations over the next 500 years.” In today’s world, I think we are too focused on function of the building and how the immediate generation intends to use the building rather than ensuring that a building is not only beautiful, but constructed to last for decades or even centuries.

Streets are designed to accommodate everything, but especially people. Because many of the cities we visited were founded during the Roman Empire or during the Middle Ages, they were designed in a way which was most convenient for pedestrians since motor vehicles did not exist and even horses would have been expensive for traveling at the time. Many of the narrow 15 to 25 foot buildings had entrances that sat directly on the edge of the road. The road also had to accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, mopeds, cars, and small delivery trucks all in a width of an average of 15 feet (that is a little wider than one lane on the Interstate)! These cities also had larger, busier roads, but the concept was the same, pedestrians ALWAYS have the right-of-way, followed by bicycles, followed by mopeds, then cars and trucks. Bicyclist rode among mopeds, cars, and trucks. The lanes were narrow and many time the road shoulder was the sidewalk, but the relationship among all users was clearly understood. Everyday certain streets would even close after 5:00pm and restricted to only pedestrians or bicycles.

Mixed-uses is a standard not an exception. Lastly, in America it is common to separate our land-uses -- shopping and restaurants in this part of the city, houses and apartments in that part, and warehouses and factories over here. In every city we visited, however, this concept was upside down. Most buildings were 3 or 4+ stories tall (and built to last for decades or even centuries) and had offices, shops, and restaurants in the first story of every building while living spaces in the form of (from what I could tell) condos or apartments. Large industrial uses were separated typically on the outskirts of the city, but smaller light manufacturing did happen within the city so long as they could operate in a very small space and there was little to no impact on other neighbors.

During the trip I realized how highly organized and new American really is. At the same time, it made me proud to think how amazing our country is that we have the resources and wealth to be able to accomplish what we have in our short time as a nation. America truly is a great nation. Our greatness, however, comes from being open to new concepts and ideas and from this trip, I’ve learned that our friends across the pond have some great ideas on building cities. Let’s take some of these ideas and build on them. Let’s talk about it!

Creating an Attractive and Appealing Streetscape

This past weekend I was reading through on of my favorite urban planning websites and came across an article that presented a new perspective about making a streetscape attractive. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, a streetscape is the look and feel of a street and it’s elements. Often this includes the basic elements of a street layout, a sidewalk, and various accessory elements such as trees, landscaped islands, or a bench.

Most times when we talk about creating a good streetscape we’ve heard (or at least urban planners have) over and over the three main elements -- active uses, a high first-floor window to facade ratio, and the presence of street furniture. Let’s break these down before we talk about a new fourth element.

Active uses refers to active land uses. These are land and building uses that create a highly active and moving atmosphere. These can include colleges or schools, retail stores, restaurants, and hotels. Think of a shopping mall. Malls have done an excellent job of creating a highly active atmosphere.

High first-floor window to facade ratios help contribute to an appealing streetscape by giving pedestrians something to look at. Having the first-floor of a building be mostly transparent brings the active atmosphere into the building while also giving pedestrians a feeling of being safer (somebody always has their eyes on them from a neighboring building and can see what is happening on the street).

The third element is street furniture or accessories. Streetscape accessories can include elements such as trees lining streets, ATM kiosks, benches, public art pieces, bike racks, and cafe tables and chairs. These elements fill up the space and make it more inviting. Think of when you first moved into your home. Yes it provided you with all the basic shelter you needed, but were the empty rooms with white paint inviting and comfortable? My guess is probably not, and the same concept goes for our streets.

The new fourth element that the article mentioned was how Instagramable was the streetscape (referring to the photo social media site Instagram). Was their something unique about the streetscape that encouraged people to take a picture with it? This concept is what has encouraged so many cities around the nation to embrace having public art and statues around their cities. It give the city something unique.

What changes do we need to make to our downtown and surrounding areas to create attractive and appealing streetscape? How can we make our streetscape Instagramable? Let’s talk about it!

A Better Workforce Is One Element to Business Recruitment

We all know the world has changed a lot from 20 or even 10 years ago. Skill sets that were valuable and desired by employers no longer play an important part in our local economy. Carter County’s unemployment rate of 7.1 percent is far from being the highest, but it is still above the state unemployment rate of 6.3 percent. This could be an indicator that our local economy hasn’t caught up to the state economy yet but, coupled with the lower per capita income in Carter County, it is more likely that we lack the workforce locally to adequately compete for jobs in demand today.

I hear old stories about how in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and even into the 80s students would graduate from high school one Sunday, and the next Monday morning they would wake and go to work in the plants or one of the other manufacturing facilities in Elizabethton. That was a great time in Elizabethton! You had to have little or no training, you had a job for life, and made a decent wage to support your family. Unfortunately those days are gone. Today even high paying manufacturing requires in depth training or some education

According to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 50 percent of the fastest growing jobs today through 2022 will require some type of post-high school education or training. Half of those jobs requiring some post-high school education or training will require a Bachelor’s degree or higher. To give this a little perspective, in the future 4 people are employed in a growth industry in Elizabethton, 2 will have to have post-high school training or education and 1 will have to have a Bachelor’s degree or higher. We have some work to do!

Fortunately for Elizabethton and Carter County, we have great resources to tap into. Northeast State at Elizabethton offers many programs in which you can get some basic course classes or needed certifications for a program. Tennessee College of Applied Technology also offers a variety of training and certification programs. Carter County is also home to the Northeast Tennessee location of Alliance for Business and Training (AB&T).This is a great place to visit if you want to get a certification or training, but don’t know where to start. They can also help you in finding financing sources to pay for your training either through grants or through financial aid sources. You can also contact my office or the Library for more information and resources on starting a new career or getting training.

So let’s all work to give Elizabethton and Carter County a better workforce so that we can attract, retain, and grow businesses, industry, and jobs in Elizabethton. Let’s talk about it!

City Staff v. City Council...who does what?

Sometimes we think of the city government as a very large, complex behemoth that cannot be challenged and is disconnected from the “real world.” So let’s take a look at how the City is organized and how the average citizen fits in.

We’ll start with City Council. The citizens of Elizabethton directly elect the Elizabethton City Council. When you go to the ballot box on Election Day the local person you are voting for is a City Councilperson and are called elected officials. Our City Council is what is called a representative legislative body. The seven people you elect represent the citizen’s wills and desires they want to see for Elizabethton. The City Council creates new city laws and regulations, creates policies to determine how to treat certain issues or situations, and approves the annual budget and large contractual agreements. The elected City Council also has the authority to hire and fire only the City Manager and no one else who works at the city.

City staff members are the people who work for the city and are not elected. These people are often called appointed officials, because they are to be hired based on their qualifications to hold the position that they do similar to the private sector. The City Manager is appointed by the City Council and the City Manager has the sole authority to hire and fire their city staff as they see necessary. This makes the City Manager a Chief Administrative Officer. It is the job of the City Manager and their city staff to carry out the policies and laws created by City Council. The City Manager and their city staff also serve as advisors to the City Council. As the Planning and Economic Development Director for the city, I am an appointed official and only have the authority to enforce regulations and laws, which City Council and the City Manager say I can enforce. I do not have the authority to create new regulations or laws.

Another area of the city is other City Boards. These may be the Library Board, Planning Commission, or Parks & Recreation Board. These Boards serve as a way to help City Council make better decisions, can serve as accountability for city departments, and they are made up of people appointed by City Council. Sometimes they have specific authority given to them by City Council to make very specific decisions, while other times they serve as an advisor to the City Council. They are often made up of multiple people with a specialized skill or interest relevant to the board they serve on. Rarely, do they have the ability to make new city laws without City Council approving these laws.

As you can see, the City is made up of many components and it’s important to know who they are, how you as a citizen fit in, and who you need to consult with a concern. After reading this, in what ways can you be involved in your local government. Let’s talk about it!

The Basic Organizational Chart of the City Government.

It Takes A Community to Recruit an Industry

Effective July 1, the City Manager has reorganized some departments in this city and my department was one. As some of you may know, I have now been assigned responsibilities of city economic development. While a large portion of my new responsibilities will be to focus on fostering an environment for development, I will continue to work with other economic development organizations including Carter County Tomorrow. More importantly, today I want to talk briefly about the economic development world of today.

Economic development today is vastly different today from what it was 20 or even 10 years ago (which I will refer to as yesterday). Yesterday, large factories employed hundreds of workers to produce products to be sold around the world. Today, these same large factories are reduced to half the physical size they once were and employ one-third (or less in some industries) of the workforce they once did. Much of this is due to advances in automation. A single machine or robot can take the place of many workers producing the same product faster, with less errors, and those machines don’t need to go home at night to sleep or take a break.

It is no secret that the US economy has shifted from a production economy to a service economy. Service industry jobs like accountants, customer service specialists, sales persons, and food preparers have taken the place of production industry jobs like a factory line worker. Yesterday these types businesses chose a location based on proximity to customers, tax incentives, and workforce availability. Today, businesses look for a location with proximity to their customers and have a high quality of life. Quality of life includes things like parks, recreation programs, good schools, unique places to hangout, entertainment options, and things to do -- the things that make a community enjoyable. Big businesses know that the community they choose will have a large impact on their employees and want to choose the best one so they can have healthy and happy employees with increased productivity.

Yesterday cities were largely responsible for the development of the local economy mainly through incentivising businesses to locate in an area. Today, cities, counties, schools, and other businesses in the community all play a very important role in recruiting a new business. This approach must include EVERYONE in the community. So as we look to the future of Elizabethton’s economy what can we do today to make our community an attractive location for business tomorrow? Let’s talk about it!

Investing in Main Street

As any small, startup business owner knows, getting access to capital is one of the most difficult parts of starting your own business. Working hours on a business plan, nervously presenting your plan to a loan officer as they begin to nit-pic your business apart, making changes to the plan and re-presenting the plan, only to anxiously wait a week to hear back to see if you got the loan or not. This is a tedious process and can take a lot of time and sometime you don’t walk away with as much capital as you think you might need.

This is where additional resources can step in. Crowdfunding has become very popular for helping people consolidate debt, helping someone purchase a new home, and even helping people pay for vacations. This is a tool that can also be utilized to help many of our small businesses get started!

The State of Michigan recently allowed municipalities and economic development organizations to create crowdfunding capital streams as a part of their Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. Through this process entrepreneurs work with organizations to learn the basics about running a businesses and, in-turn, have access to specific crowdfunding platforms. These platforms allow community members and anyone in the world to invest in a small business without have to go through traditional investment licensing. This brings capital investing to a hyper local level unlike anything else before. Businesses can borrow anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 for capital purposes.

Instead of investing in big business through the stock market or other investment brokerages, individual citizens have the opportunity to invest in local small businesses right in their home town. It could be your favorite restaurant needing to expand; your local salon wanting to hiring more stylists; a new, hip clothing store trying to startup that you want to see in your community -- all of these are ways that you can help your community.

Launch Chattanooga, a program targeted at helping startups in Chattanooga, has a similar type crowdfunding platform that is used to help startup businesses. This is a great way to help our small, local businesses expand, add more jobs, and help improve Elizabethton’s economy. Start the conversation about other ways we can help our small businesses when they are ready to take their business to the next level. You never know what that business could turn into some day. Let’s talk about it!

There’s a Park for Everyone

Everyone enjoys a park. Everytime I drive down West G Street someone is having a picnic, playing a pick-up game of basketball, or just enjoying the playground at Kiwanis Park. Parks can even be attractions, such as Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London, or even the National Mall in Washington D.C.

Parks come in a variety of types. There’s passive parks which often contain walking trails, picnic tables, benches, maybe a community garden, or other passive activities; active parks which incorporates elements such as playgrounds, various sports fields/courts, and other highly active activities; natural parks which are similar to many of our national parks or Roan Mountain state park; and garden parks which as similar to passive parks, but typically have more formal planting spaces, statuary, fountains, and the like. As you can see, parks aren’t just for kids, they’re for adults who want to remain active as they age, who want to take a quick walk and enjoy the beautiful flower beds and scenery, and who want to be involved in their community.

Parks can also help improve the public health of a community. As I mentioned earlier, parks can provide an outlet for recreation helping citizens be physically active and increase the fitness of the community. Trees, flowers, bushes, and other plantings often found in parks help to clean the air in a community. Parks also absorb storm water in the community reducing the amount of runoff and helping to prevent flooding of a neighborhood and keeping city resources from having to install new storm water lines.


The values of property surrounding parks can also be impacted by parks. Study after study has positively correlated a home or property value to its proximity to a park. Similar studies have also show such a relationship in neighborhoods with tree lined streets. In cities across the county, such as Chattanooga, property values more than doubled when a new park was developed. As property values increased so did the property and sales taxes resulting in additional revenue for the local governments.

Parks provide so many benefits to our community and we are lucky to have such a dedicated and caring parks staff here in Elizabethton. Parks are for everyone and we must keep that in mind when we improve and develop new parks. What additional improvements can we make to our current parks in order to make our parks more attractive to more people? Let’s talk about it!

Vision Zero -- A Way to a More Pedestrian Friendly Community

According to the World Health Organization, road traffic injuries is the 7th leading killer of people all over the world and is projected to increase to the 5th leading killer by 2030. 1.2 million people are killed every year in road or traffic accidents -- that’s almost the entire population of New Hampshire killed in traffic accidents annually. This has caused some concerns for politicians, activists, engineers, and planners in Sweden and in 1997 their parliament approved a new initiative called Vision Zero.

Vision Zero is an initiative with an end goal of zero people being killed in traffic accidents. This may be in car to car accidents, car to pedestrian accidents, or car to bicycle accidents. In any case, zero people killed by accidents on Swedish roads. This initiative uses a multi-pronged approach to achieve it’s goal. First, it builds support with politicians, corporations, and the general public to being looking at and demanding safer environments for those using public roads. Secondly, it looks a vehicle design to determine how cars can be designed better to withstand side and front impacts as well as impacts with pedestrians and bicyclists. Third, it recognizes that humans are not perfect and encourages engineers and planners to create roadway systems that anticipate accidents and develop roadway design solutions to minimize or eliminate the most deadly types of accidents.

Traditionally, when design or redesign a roadway system we focus on accidents, assume perfect human behavior, we fault one person (the driver) for accidents, and we think that saving lives can be too expensive. Vision Zero turns all of this upside down and encourages us to focus on fatalities, assume humans are not perfect and design for their imperfection, places fault for road deaths on drivers, auto manufacturers, and roadway designers, and postulates that saving lives should be cheap.

The data has proven the results of this initiate to be drastic and it has been adopted all over Europe. The United States is also being to look at this initiative with cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, Portland, and Seattle all implementing this initiative.

While we don’t have high occurrences of pedestrian or bicycle deaths here in Elizabethton, everyone must play their part and be mindful of road safety for ALL users of the roadway -- drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. The multi-modal grant we just received is an effort to be proactive to prevent accidents or even deaths as we work to become a more pedestrian friendly community. It may not always be convenient to drivers, but having multiple types of transportation provides many benefits to our community and our citizens. Let’s talk about it!

Elizabethton Street Traffic is Looking Good

I had the opportunity to staff the City of Elizabethton booth at the Covered Bridge festival this past weekend. It was great to hear all of the ideas from everyone about ways to improve the city and to get back in touch with the direction that our citizens want this community to be moving in. A few of you made a comment about the amount of traffic that we have seen in Elizabethton and how it seems to becoming more congested in recent years. So, today, I want to talk a little about how a both your local government and our state government look at traffic congestion and determine when a road needs to be expanded.

Every so often, a Federal advisory committee called the Transportation Research Board produces a document called the Highway Capacity Manual. Transportation engineers and planners across the nation use this document in order to determine the capacities of certain highways and roads. Based on the capacities of the roads, a grading schedule called roadway level-of-service is calculated in order to determine how close to capacity a roadway is. Commonly all arterial and collector routes are then graded ‘A’ through ‘F’ as to how close to capacity they are with ‘F’ being the worst.

Believe it or not, Elizabethton’s road network is in pretty good shape! All of Elizabethton‘s minor arterial and collector networks (this would include roads like G Street, Parkway Boulevard, Southside Road, Bemberg Road, Siam Road, etc) with the exception of a portion of Milligan Highway from Okolona Road to Johnson City City Limits have either an A or B level-of-service. The section of Milligan Highway I previously referenced has a level-of-service of a C.

West Elk Avenue mostly has a B level-of-service with one D near the Milligan Highway intersection and a level-of-service of F between Pal’s and Summers-Taylor. This is the reasoning behind TDOT determining and making improvements in this section of the Elk Avenue corridor. The 19-E Bypass corridor is also good with a level-of-service of all Bs or Cs. As a planner, when a road changes to a D level-of-service we being to analyze the problem and look for long-term solutions to the problem. Once a roadway reaches a level-of-service of E, we begin to look at immediate solutions to prevent the level-of-service from deteriorating even more. When a road reaches an F level-of-service we bring in engineers to develop and construct solutions that can have immediate impact on the corridor. An F level-of-service means the roadway is close to capacity.

While roads in Elizabethton will continue to become busier as the city urbanizes, we must realize that Elizabethton is not as rural of a community as it once was and busy roads are a side effect. While it may seem busy at times, Elizabethton’s road network is far from needing major improvements such as by-pass roads. Let’s talk about it!

Partnering with Google to Get Your Small Business Online

I am very excited to announce that the City of Elizabethton is collaborating with Google’s Get Your Business Online program to help our local small businesses build an online presence. According to the US Small Business Administration, 97 percent of consumers search online for products and services and if a small business is not there, it will be skipped over. What’s more, is 91 percent of those consumers visited a store because of an online experience. Your businesses may be missing this market

This is where our partnership comes in! I have written before about the importance of being online and now we are moving in a direction to better help our small businesses achieve that goal. So many simple and free tools can help give you that online experience for little to no money each year. Facebook is a prime example. It’s free, provides a direct marketing path directly to your customers, and can contain hours, contact information, and pictures of your businesses.

Google Maps and Google+ is another great resource that allows your business to be found easily by anyone who uses Google searches or has an Android phone. Similar to Facebook, Google+ allows you to directly market your business to your customers as well as list business hours, contact information, and even post pictures of the inside of your business to familiarize customers.

An online presence becomes even more important when we talk about making Elizabethton and Carter County a tourist destination. Many people will be coming from out of town and out of state to visit. They will not know where to go to eat, shop, or find something to do and will likely turn to the internet to find these things. When they search for ‘Antique Stores’ or ‘Bakery’ will your small business show up? Are you open for dinner or breakfast? What kinds of events and excursions do you offer? All of these things can be communicated through free online resources with very little work on your part.

To help businesses get online and On The Map (as the slogan goes), the city has scheduled three workshops on June 16, 18, and 19 and will also have a booth setup at the Covered Bridge Festival this weekend. The whole process can take less than 10 minutes and will set you up for much business success. According to the Boston Consulting Group, businesses that are online are expected to grow 40 percent faster than those that are not. Is your business online? Let’s talk about it!

Cities are the Generators of the Economy

We all know cities are the places to go to consume. In that role, they play a vital role in ensuring our economy – local, state, and national – keeps moving forward. Cities are the places to go shopping, out to eat, participate in cultural events and festivals, and go to work. Elizabethton is the generator of our local economy.

Elizabethton, while being in a rural setting, is a major driver in the local Carter County economy. Without it, Carter County would be much different and likely have a completely different economy. When we look at the numbers, there is little doubt of the impact and benefit that Elizabethton has on Carter County. Elizabethton’s population is only 25 percent of all of the County’s population, but it has jurisdiction over almost one-third (32 percent) of the property assessment in the entire county. This is an important figure indicating that approximately 32 percent of the property taxes collected by the County are within the Elizabethton City Limits.

Elizabethton is an important employment center for the County as well with approximately one of every four workers being employed in Elizabethton, and this does not include those who live within the City Limits. Elizabethton also is home to 29 percent of all of the businesses in the county and accounts for 83 percent of the retail sales in the county, giving us an indication that the most shopped businesses are in the city limits. Along similar lines, 81 percent of the spending on accommodation and food service sales in Carter County happens within Elizabethton. Elizabethton’s industry also accounts for over half (56 percent) of the manufacturers’ shipments value in the county meaning that over half of the products produced in Carter County originate in Elizabethton.

As you can see Elizabethton is a major driver of Carter County’s economy. Locally, we even have small communities such as Hampton and Roan Mountain that impact some of the economy like Elizabethton does. Now, don’t get me wrong, the County does provide services such as the County Detention Center, and the rural nature of the county provide agricultural benefits to Elizabethton as well. Nevertheless, with Elizabethton influencing our local economy so much, it is time for Carter County and Elizabethton to work together on a political and policy level. What is beneficial for Carter County IS beneficial for Elizabethton, and what is beneficial for Elizabethton IS beneficial for Carter County! Like each other or not, we all must work together for the benefit of our local economy. No one else is going to help us or do it for us! Let’s talk about it!

ISO: What is it and How it affects you!

ISO is a term that most people rarely hear, but it can have a profound impact on your wallet! ISO stands for Insurance Services Office and it is a company that provides data about community risk to insurance companies. ISO basically tells your insurance company how risky it is for them to insure your home or property and, in-turn, the insurance company uses that information to determine how much to charge you monthly or your premium.

To determine risk, the ISO looks at various information to determine how risky your home or property is. ISO looks at the likelihood of natural disasters that may occur in your area such as earthquakes, tornados, flooding, and sinkholes. They may also look at the characteristics of your home such as what year the home was constructed, were any updates and renovations were ever completed, does the home include fire alarms, are there deadbolts installed, and does the home have an alarm system.

One of the last, but certainly the biggest, is the services provided by your local governments. They look at what building codes and standards are adopted and enforced by the local government. They consider the condition of the infrastructure such as the ability of the water lines in the area to provide adequate water and pressure in the event of a fire. One of the categories with the most points is the fire suppression category. In this category, they consider many things, including the number of firemen employed per citizen, the number and types of fire trucks, location of fire stations in relation to your home, how much training is provided, and back-up agreements. All of this information is aggregated and used to determine how much risk there is that your home would be damaged from any kind of disaster.

ISO comes to Elizabethton every four years to evaluate our system to determine what our ISO rating is. This year Elizabethton moved up from a Class 4 rating to a Class 3 rating, placing our fire department in the top 5 percent of all fire departments in the United States for fire suppression. A Class 3 rating reflects on the excellent job our fire fighters are doing as well as the improvements to our water infrastructure to be able to provide the fire department with water needed to put out fires. A savings on home insurance via ISO is another way your city government is working to create a better community to live in. Let’s talk about this!

Is Elizabethton Ready for a TIF?

The Progress Edition of the Elizabethton Star talked a lot about development. Specifically, the concept of a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) District was discussed. I’ve had a lot of questions about what a TIF is, what it will cost, and how it can help Elizabethton. Just to be clear with our geography here, city officials, economic development officials, and some property owners have been in discussions about making the area along Elk Avenue from Sycamore Shoals State Park to Krystal’s and north to the Watauga River a TIF District.

First, let’s look at how a TIF works. TIFs are an incentive tool that the State of Tennessee allows local governments to utilize in order to help encourage and incentivize new development. Often times this tool is utilized in cases where the cost to develop are prohibitive because of contamination concerns, lack of roads, water, or sewer, or the cost to redevelop existing buildings is not profitable. Places like these are obvious problems for cities because they lower surrounding property values, encourage crime, and create an aesthetic eye sore on the community.

When a TIF is created, local governments continue to receive the same amount in property taxes that they collected before the TIF is created. Because the new district has been formed developers become interested in constructing new developments within the district. As the property value increases, the amount that the property owner would pay in property taxes will increase as well. What is unique to a TIF district is that the difference between the taxes paid before the TIF was created to what they what they would be during the TIF is set aside to help pay for improvements within the district.

Many TIFs in Tennessee last for 25 years and after the 25 year period all of the taxes (what the city and county were collecting before the TIF and the taxes being set aside during the TIF) are now turned back over to the city to use for general operations.

The benefit this could provide to Elizabethton is new development and re-development of the old North American land. An incentive program like this can be very attractive to developers both local and nationwide. TIFs can also be used in a variety of ways with liability falling to a developer or to a city or county.

Locally, the successes of TIFs have been proven. The new Bass Pro development is a TIF development. The Cabela's site in Bristol, Virgina is a TIF. Downtown Johnson City is redeveloping their downtown using a TIF program. It is a tool that has been proven in case study after case study. Is it time for Elizabethton to use it? Let’s talk about it!

Is Form-Based for Elizabethton?

One of the newest trends in Planning is a concept call form-based zoning codes. Form-based zoning codes take our conventional concept of zoning and reverse it. Instead of focusing on regulating the land use (what is happening on the property) first, building type second, and building aesthetics last, form-based codes are more concerned with building aesthetics first, building type second, and land use last.

Form-based zoning codes are more commonly seen in places that have a 19th Century development pattern – a time before cars when everything had to be easily accessed by walking or bicycling. Downtowns are a great example of what a form-based code would produce from a commercial district. The focus is more on the look and patterning of the windows and doors rather than on the specific use of the building. It could be a retailer, an office, or an apartment building.

Modern form-based zoning codes are utilized in developments in which the developer desires a mix of various types of land uses, such as residential, retail, office, medical office, small production, and restaurants.

As I mentioned before, the actual use of the property is not of primary concern in a form-based code, but rather the appearance and location of the building on the property is of primary concern. This allows for the property owner to have greater freedom in determining what uses to utilize in a building.

Let’s look at a few examples of how this might work. In Elizabethton, if Walmart wanted to relocate to just on the edge of downtown they would be able to construct their typical Walmart layout with the big parking lot in the front with a huge building set far from the road. With a form-based zoning code, however, Walmart would be required to locate their entire business into what would appear as multiple different buildings matching a downtown window and door patterning. They would also be required to place their parking lot in the back of the building to help hide it from view.

In this example, the focus is not on the use of the Walmart, but more about ensuring that the Walmart building would blend in with the appearance of the existing neighborhood. Rather than the big front wall, Walmart would look like a two or three story downtown building with multiple entrances.

This is a new concept and has started to really take hold in many cities. Locally, Kingsport has implemented some form-based zoning codes in their downtown area. Is this concept something Elizabethton should consider? Let’s talk about it!

Not In My Backyard!!

When I first started my career in planning, I was naive (and in many areas I still am) about the reality of the development process. I am also a strong believer in making sure the public is aware of what is going on in local government and gathering their input as part of the process. While this is unique and powerful process, it also opens up the door to restricting what may be in the best interest of the community.

An article published on in the April 2012 edition of Boston Magazine discusses the impact such a process can have on a city. In Boston, before any development is approved it must first go before a citizen advisory committee. This presents an opportunity for many of the anti-development citizens to come out in protest of the development stretching the approval process out for months and costing the business that much more to receive approval.

The article points out that a few citizens have the power to completely shutdown a development because there is some aspect of it that they do not like – whether location, aesthetics, or the development type. “This has to change. If it doesn't, Boston could lose its competitive edge." the author notes.

One of the reasons cited most often for opposing any development is fear of the unknown. What will this development look like in the end? Will the developers follow through on their promises? What will this development do to the surrounding businesses or neighborhood? We must work together with the developers to help calm the fears of those who are anti-development.

A question I often ask to gage if a project is good for our community is “If this development was near another business or if this development was next to another neighborhood would you be excited about it?” Often times stepping back from the issue and questioning if the development is in the best interest of our community is a much better approach than simply not doing to project. After all, we don’t want to turn down a positive development for our city and loose our “competitive edge” as the author was concerned for Boston.

Just as we as humans go through growing pains during our teenage years, so too do cities. We must realize that the pain will only be temporary and that, while not ideal for our individual situation, a development will help our community grow and become stronger. What else should we be doing to help calm concerns of new development? Let’s talk about it!

What’s Elizabethton’s Community Brand?

Take a moment and think about what you’ve heard people say when you mention you’re from Elizabethton. What is the picture visitors describe to you when you say Elizabethton? Branding is not often a term you hear in local government, but is a very powerful tool for private sector businesses. Branding is not only about how a product or company is perceived, but also about how that product or company delivers on that perception. Local governments and community organizations are noticing the power of branding and over the last eight years, we are starting to see communities become brands.

To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, what cities come to mind when I say Country Music Capital or Wine Capital of America? You think of very specific Nashville and Napa Valley and probably without even naming the state. Locally, Bristol has built its brand around NASCAR and for good reason it’s the home of the Bristol Motor Speedway!

Community branding answers questions like what sets us apart from other communities in the region, what do we have to offer that people can’t get or do closer to where they live, what strengths do we offer others in the region? These answers become the basis for our community brand.

Community brands provide many benefits to a community. A brand serves to help unite various organizations and helps everyone move in the same direction. These organizations can be formal such as the Chamber of Commerce, City Council, or the County Commission or more informal such as the Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, or the Downtown Business Association. Imagine if you had four horses pulling a carriage and all four wanted to go in different directions – we would be getting nowhere fast! A community brand helps unite these organizations encouraging everyone to pull in the same direction.

Community branding also answers questions like why should anyone move here and why should people visit us. The answer to these questions are the reason businesses will want to move here, tourists will want to visit here, and people will want to move here.

Whether positive or negative, whether it’s advertised or not, every community has a community brand. So, what is our community brand? What comes to people’s minds when you say Elizabethton? If it is positive, how can we let the world know what it is? If it is negative, what do we need to do to change it? Let’s talk about it!

Making Elizabethton Business Friendly

Many times in my position I am asked about creating a “business friendly” community, but I often question what this means. Franklin, Tennessee, for example, has very strict sign, aesthetic, and development regulations, yet businesses flock to this smaller city. Greeneville, Tennessee, on the other hand, has very liberal development regulations allowing for a wide variety of land uses and lot locations, yet this community has many vacant buildings.

The Beacon Center (a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and independent organization dedicated empirical research and timely free market solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee) annually ranks the top 50 most populous Tennessee cities by business friendliness. In their 2013 analysis, they measure community allure, business tax burden, and economic vitality in order to determine which community is more friendly to business. In this ranking, Elizabethton has ranked 35th most business friendly city in the state just under Kingsport at 34th and above Bristol at 37th. Not too bad considering we rank 39th largest city in Tennessee by population.

The National League of Cities (a national organization working with city leaders to build better communities) has also made suggestions on what makes a community business friendly. This organization suggests creating space for innovation, having regulations that make sense, and proactively engaging the business community creates a business friendly community. Unlike the Beacon Center ranking, these suggestions are more actions rather than measures.

In my opinion, a business friendly community is more about cultivating a pro-active, positive business environment rather than measuring specific outcomes and implementing specific programs. Yes, these programs are sure to help the business environment and, yes, the measures use in the Beacon Center’s analysis are certainly helpful in determining the return on investment into business programs, but we must look at the larger picture to determine our business friendliness.

It would be ideal if our local governments could implement a few programs, cut some taxes, and BAM! our community would be “business friendly.” Unfortunately, this is not the case. Our local governments must work together to create business friendly tax, development, and regulatory policies and programs. Our citizens must work to educate and train themselves so that we have a workforce capable of meeting the technical and knowledge driven demands of today’s business environment. Our customers must support local businesses and our local economy to encourage others to start and move businesses here. Our businesses must work to invest in their business, buildings, and local community. And all of us must work to create a positive image of Elizabethton that will make others want to come here.

It takes everyone to create a business friendly community. No one element can do it alone. So how can we all take the first step together? Let’s talk about it!

Sustainable, Self-reliant Energy Production

Last week we talked about urban farming as an easy, healthy way for us to create a more self-reliant and locally centered community. This week, I want to continue this theme a bit by discussing another area of self-reliance – sustainable development policies. No, this is not some lecture about global warming or climate change, but rather about development policies that promote a sustainable way of life. Just like with our urban farms, a way of life that is focused on producing what we need and use locally.

Solar panels are an excellent example of sustainability. According to the Tennessee Valley Authority, “[solar] production ranges from four to 50 kilowatts. On average, a 10-kW [photovoltaic] system located in the Tennessee Valley will generate between 12,000 to 14,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a year, or a little more than the total amount of electricity used in a typical home.” Solar panels can also serve as water heaters circulating water through the panel heating up the water and circulating it back to your insulated water heater. When the electricity goes out, you’ll still be taking warm showers unlike the rest of us!

Locally, Security Federal has solar panels on the top of their building, which provide electricity back to the electric grid. Most people don’t even know they’re there because they cannot be seen. The Elizabethton Veterinary Clinic also has solar panels that help support the power usage in their building as well.

Another source of energy sustainability is wind energy. We’ve all heard of wind turbines that produce electricity. At a residential level, they are commonly small and typically rise just above the tree line. In some cities, policies have allowed commercial buildings to install turbines in order to capture the wind that might be just above the building line so long as they do not extend above a maximum height.

Looking at their application in conjunction with these sustainable techniques, energy efficient buildings magnify the self-reliance. Green buildings attempt to make the resources it uses extremely efficient. Milligan College has recently constructed the only green building that we have in the city. These buildings utilize LED lighting and occupancy sensors to reduce electric consumption, collect rainwater from the roof to use for landscape watering and commodes to reduce the amount of water consumption, and choose the placement with windows facing the southern sun to provide natural daylight and additional heat.

Some of these ideas can be expensive and some may sound a little crazy, but it not only makes your home and our community more self-reliant, it can also save you a lot of money! We may or may not be ready to move in this direction, but let’s start the conversation. Let’s talk about it!

What is Urban Farming and is it for Elizabethton?

Urban farming – a term probably not heard by many around here, but it is something that many in this community have been doing for decades. Urban farming is, well, farming, but in an urban environment under an acre. This typically includes growing fruits and vegetables, and can include raising chickens or even a pig or two, processing the grown food, and distributing it for consumption. The concept of the Victory Garden, with its large growth area and sometimes fruit trees, is the basis for modern urban farming.

Urban farming can have a variety of pros the impact the entire community. One being urban farming creates a more self-dependent community. Communities with active urban farmers are much less dependent on getting their produce, chicken, and pork from the supermarket because they grow or raise it themselves!

While they still have supermarkets, urban farming creates a community that could survive should a natural disaster occur or resources from other communities cease to be possible.

Urban farming also provides a community with easy access to healthy food. Some communities (and Carter County is one of them) have what we term food deserts where a grocery store or a place to access healthy, fresh food is too far away from where people live. Because urban farming is on such a small scale, this method of producing food spreads the access to food throughout a community instead of centralizing them in one location.

There are some downfalls to urban farming. Urban farming may cause problems with neighbors, especially if the urban farm includes animals. While many urban farming friendly communities restrict the number of animals permitted per acre, there still can be some problems with smells or noise from time-to-time. Moreover, of course, not everyone wants to live right next to someone who is raising a pig or chickens.

Another major concern to urban farming communities is the soil. Not all soils are ideal for growing various types of produce. In order to grow certain types of produce, soil amendments may be necessary. Another concern with the soil is the potential for contaminants to exist. Many types of produce will absorb contaminants that exist in the soil such as hard metals. These contaminants become a serious concern when urban farmers go and sell their produce to others who may not know where it was grown.

Please don’t mistake me for encouraging you to go out and start an urban farm today. Elizabethton currently prohibits raising unapproved chickens and raising pigs inside the City Limits, but this is something for us to consider. Is this something our community should pursue? Let’s talk about it!

Regional Collaboration

When you hear the word collaboration, the last thing that pops into your mind is local governments – or any type of government on some days. This is a weakness for us local governments. We worry about losing our control, losing our identity, or, worse yet, losing our government completely to a consolidation. Yet, when we look at examples of local governments collaborating, we commonly see great success -- Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, the Research Triangle, and recently the Opportunity Initiative in Southwestern North Carolina.

Regional collaboration can be highly effective in a number of ways, including comprehensive transportation, economic development, and comprehensive land-use. By ensuring that roads, bikeways, and pedestrian infrastructure are in place regionally allows residents, businesses, and tourists to flow more easily through the entire area.

This additionally helps economic development throughout the region, making commuting and doing business easier and more fluid. What’s good for growth in one government or community is good for the other communities.

Tying land-uses together through collaboration is also beneficial to ensure that regulations are similar throughout the region and that each community’s growth will be well matched with the other community's growth.

Collaboration can also help provide a regional identity. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Sevier County consistently collaborate with each other on projects and have developed an identity as an access to the Smoky Mountains with beautiful vistas and became a vacation destination. This regional identity has catapulted the all the governments and communities into economic success.

Regional collaboration allows us to take the best elements from each government or community and bring them to the table. What one community’s weakness is may be another’s strength. One community may have better housing, another a better industrial base, another better quality of life, and yet another a more beautiful city. Each of these communities must not have every element, but it allows all of the cities to offer something unique to the entire region.

Locally, Elizabethton is a part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The US Office of Management and Budget creates this area. A standard they use is that of an area containing a large, populated city and adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and transportation integration with that large city.

We have already been defined as having a high interaction with Johnson City, Jonesborough, and Unicoi. When a large new business or industry moves into one of those communities, Elizabethtonians benefit. When a major new state highway is built in one of those communities Elizabethtonians benefit. What could we accomplish if we started collaborating? Is it time for us to join with our surrounding communities to begin collaborating regionally? The answer may be yes, the answer may be no, but either way let’s start talking about it!

Adding Bike Lanes to Our Streets

The Kingsport Times-News recently published an article about Kingsport’s reconfiguration of Center Street in downtown. However, much of the controversy is about what the configuration did to Center Street. The City of Kingsport and the State of Tennessee Transportation Department narrowed the street from four travel lanes to two travel lanes, a middle turn lane, and two bike lanes.

The addition of the bike lanes has been very controversial. Many downtown businesses are excited about the new transportation options and see it as an economic opportunity. Others in the community see this as a nuisance and bad transportation engineering.

When we talk about downtown revitalization and mixing residential, retail, and restaurants, having multiple modes of transportation is important. People need to be able to get to their destination safely regardless of their personal conditions. Maybe they are unable to drive anymore, or a young person cannot yet afford a car. Providing bike lanes and sidewalks along streets helps to ensure that people safely gets to where they need to go.

This is a conversation that we haven’t had here in Elizabethton, but are we ready to take the next step? Should we be looking to create additional modes of transportation? Already we have many streets with sidewalks, but we don’t really have any bike lanes in our community. The Riverfront Linear Path and the Tweetsie Trail both have contributed a lot to the biking atmosphere in Elizabethton and have helped provide safe routes through the city. Adding bike lanes to our existing streets will expand out biking infrastructure, encouraging citizens to bike and create opportunities to be healthy. Bike routes can be added to many of our local streets for only the cost of paint and they can be added to our collector routes when they are repaved.

Bike routes can also have an economic impact. An example is Austin, Texas, where the city started adding bike lanes to their entire local, collector, and minor arterial street network. This network is projected to increase the city's traffic capacity by about 25,000 trips per day. This means more people traveling past businesses with minimal expense to add these lanes to the City’s infrastructure. New York City is another example where a redesign of Union Square included the addition of protected bike lanes resulted in 49% fewer commercial vacancies in the area.

What role should bike lanes play in transportation in Elizabethton? What else should we be doing to encourage people to choose a car alternative form of transportation? Let’s talk about it!