Is Elizabethton ready for Density

Cities for centuries have been the urban center and economic driver of a region. What specifically differentiates cities from other areas in a region, or a county in our modern era, is density. When we think of dense cities our mind often goes directly to the dilapidated and crime-ridden inner-cities of Chicago, Detroit and New York, but often this is a misconception! As a matter of fact, many cities today recognize the benefits of density and spending millions to revitalize these inner-city areas. Let's talk about some benefits on a smaller city level to see if higher density would be appropriate for future development in Elizabethton.

With more businesses and residential homes per acre everything is going to be much closer together. This would make walking to a restaurant, your insurance agent, or even work much easier. The benefits here directly affect our citizens because less money would have to be spent on gas for a vehicle and a healthier lifestyle can be accomplished walking a half mile to work and back rather than driving. Increased density would also become more attractive for new retailers to locate in Elizabethton.

As density increases in a community, the property tax burden on each property owner also can decrease. Imagine how much property taxes would be if you only lived on a 3,500 square foot lot instead of a 5,000 square foot lot or if your property tax was split between twelve different people in your town home home-owners association instead of six.

An increase in density, much like with property taxes, also making providing city services much more efficient. When a road is built it doesn't matter if there are three houses in that block or 20 condo units, the cost to build the road remains the same. Now there are some instances in which there would be a slight increase for major roads, but this would not be likely for local roads. This same idea can apply to water lines, sewer lines, and electric lines. This also spreads the cost of the utility over more customers making the cost per household cheaper. Along with decreasing costs, Jane Jacobs, a prominent urban influencer, even suggests lower crime rates can be achieved per person in higher density areas because of the number of people who will be moving about the street will increase making it less criminal friendly.

Currently Elizabethton limits density based on a particular zone to 4 units per acre, 5 units per acre, and 8 units per acre and a variety of setback requirements. Could we change this to 4 units per acre, 6 units per acre, and 12 units per acre and what should the city be doing to encourage this type of development? Let's talk about it!

Creating Uniqueness is the Future of Elizabethton

Uniqueness – it is what differentiates Elizabethton from Greeneville, Johnson City from Kingsport, and Chattanooga from Knoxville. Some communities have it and take advantage of it, other communities have it and don’t utilize it, while other communities just look like all the rest!

Today, uniqueness is the key to many different successes associated with communities. From tourism, economic development, to increasing community incomes, to a community’s pride all can be tied to the unique look of a community.

Now, this does not mean that one community has weird customs or traditions, but that a community can be differentiated from another community. Just by looking around, how do you know you are in Johnson City rather than Bristol? It could be the types of unique or historic buildings, it could be landscaping patterns such as tree canopy lined streets, it could be the type of houses, it could be brick paved sidewalks, or it could be the overall development pattern.

Here in Elizabethton and Carter County we talk about the need for more tourism, more economic development, more shopping alternatives. Creating a unique community can contribute to solving all of these needs. Tourism in and of itself focuses heavily on uniqueness. People don’t want to visit a community that’s just like every other community. They want something unique!

We are competing with cities all over Tennessee and the county for industries, businesses, young families, and retirees. We want them to look at Elizabethton as a place that has a unique look and feel to it, something different that stands out in Elizabethton, but not in other communities. It’s commonly joked that rather than population, education levels, and workforce availability a CEO’s wife is the one who chooses where a company will locate simply by deciding where she wants to live. To a certain extent, I believe there is some truth to that. Does Elizabethton have the uniqueness needed to attract a CEO’s wife?

First impressions are important for a community and a bad first impression is hard to change. Communities must continually work to present itself as a unique, distinctive community starting from the gateways of the city to the downtown, the center of the community. It’s those first impressions that keep visitors and investors wanting to come back to visit and invest in Elizabethton.

Elizabethton has many opportunities to sell and create our uniqueness, but do we? How is the look and feel of Elizabethton different than Greeneville, Athens, Jonesborough, Erwin, or Church Hill and how can we put it on display? How do people know they are in Elizabethton other than the ‘Elizabethton Corporate Limits’ sign? Let’s start this conversation in our community. Let’s talk about it!

Taking a Look at 2014

As an appointed official in your local government, I believe it is important to keep you, our citizens, informed about the actions that we take. So today, I want to recap what we have accomplished during the 2014 calendar year.

This past year, the city has invested probably more than we ever have in a long time in downtown Elizabethton -- $218,000. During the summer of 2014 we invested $100,000 in the repair and maintenance of the Elk Avenue canopies. The additional $118,000 comes from the intersection improvements made at East Elk Avenue and Sycamore Street. New highly visible crosswalks and improved sidewalk ramps have improved the pedestrian safety and usability of downtown.

In addition to direct investment, the City Council made a secondary investment this past year to purchase a building and keep the Elizabethton Police Department in downtown. The purchase of the former Richie’s Warehouse building has helped fill vacant downtown windows and kept this government service at the historical center of the city. This building will be used to expand the Police Department into allowing the Criminal Investigation Division and the Administration and Patrol Divisions to all be in one location.

This past year also brought the opportunity for apartments and condos in downtown. The Regional Planning Commission and the City Council approved the relaxing of regulations on downtown living requirements, making it possible for building owners to construct second and third floor apartments. The downtown zone was also enlarged to encourage more development in and around the downtown area.

City Payment Center at the Electric Department was opened in late 2014 and takes advantage of the old layout of the Elizabethton Electric System in order to provide better customer service to our citizens and customers. This new center will provide the same services that are available at City Hall for water, sewer, and electric service. Citizens will also be able to pay taxes at this location as well!

A few other accomplishments this year have been the implementation of monthly neighborhood property maintenance sweeps, $2,500 in grants for computer training classes at the Library, the regulation of flea markets, the opening of the Tweetsie Trail, and many other things!

After reviewing this past year's accomplishments, what vision and goals would you like us to accomplish in 2015? Let’s talk about it!