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!