SEVIERVILLE — Even as a few local governments continue their consideration of recommendations for new hillside development regulation, another group has come out with proposals for new rules on area construction.

City and county officials agreed last year to enter into a partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to complete a growth readiness study that would chiefly address water quality issues related to development. The federal agency paid for and organized the process, holding a series of workshops with local residents, developers and officials, and providing some stock regulation proposals to get the ball rolling.

That months-long effort has finally concluded and it resulted in a full-color, 26-page book of recommendations for new regulations. That document was presented to city and county officials this week by staff members from the local planning offices.

“These recommendations are really aimed at mitigating water quality issues in the future and at least easing to some extent flooding problems in these new developments,” Sevierville Planning Director Jim Bryant told the group, which included the county mayor and top administrators from each city.

Bryant pointed out the group took pains to ensure the report doesn’t unfairly target builders, who may have to foot some higher initial costs for using things like impervious pavement but could see a reduction in their bills in other areas under the recommendations.

“This can be a benefit to the community and developers,” Bryant said. “It’s not a matter of someone being hurt by something.”

With the report finished, the planners conceded the next step is somewhat up in the air, though they’re hopeful each government will follow a process similar to the one used to review recommendations for regulating steep-slope development made by engineering firm Saratoga Associates.

“Where do we go with it?” Gatlinburg Planner David Ball asked rhetorically. “As a group, we think, with the differences in terrain, probably the most effective process would be to go back to the communities and go through these to find which of them are appropriate or most appropriate in each area.”

The officials in the meeting praised the effort.

“This is a good report,” Pigeon Forge City Manager Earlene Teaster said. “It was a lot of hard work.”

Engineer Gary McGill said, though he pointed out there is still much work to be done.

“Overall I think it’s very good stuff,” McGill said. “You just have to rate some of this out.”

Sevierville City Administrator Steve Hendrix also recommended that the fleshing out of the report include the drafting of a document that will help explain the new rules to developers.

“Rather than just to lay that on them, to be able to point them on the right direction would be an important step,” Hendrix said.

Through a series of four workshops, the group came up with three main areas to address.

n Residential streets and parking

With the greatest potential for land disturbance and stormwater runoff in a new development coming from the construction of roads, the group took on the task of making suggestions that could help limit those effects.

Among the recommendations made to that end are that there be vegetated open channels along residential roads that can handle runoff, and that parking areas for both residential and commercial endeavors be built at least partly of permeable pavement. Such materials allow precipitation to percolate through the surface to the earth below.

Off the topic of water issues, the group also addressed concerns about residential road building. The recommendations include requiring such streets to be at least 16-feet wide, be designed to reduce their total length by serving as many homes as possible and that cul-de-sacs be limited by using one-way loop roads.

n Lot development

There are at least a couple areas in which the Growth Readiness Plan seemingly comes into conflict with the Saratoga Associates report the county and the cities have been reviewing and implementing. While that latter document advocates requiring construction on steeply-sloped land to be done on larger lots, the Growth Readiness Plan actually advocates the exact opposite where practical.

The idea being that the smaller lots will allow more space – the recommendation is at least 40 percent of a development’s total area – to be preserved in a natural state. If that happens, local watersheds will see the benefits.

The recommendations, rather than proposing new rules, also directly disagree with existing local laws, as well. Among the suggestions is that the current rules on yard setbacks and frontages be relaxed to decrease driveway lengths and reduce the overall lot imperviousness.

n Conservation of natural areas

The report encourages the implementation of buffer systems to catch runoff and reduction of clearing and grading done on development tracts. It also encourages local governments to set up incentive systems to reward developers who use practices that can reduce the impact construction has.

Among the benefits suggested is offering a reduction in property taxes and awarding stormwater credits that builders could use to offset impacts from other developments.

The group also suggests finding ways to limit light pollution and encouraging the use of Firewise building techniques, an international system of guidelines that seeks to reduce the risk of wildfires.

dhodges@themountainpress.com