Optimism runs high for future of Rocky Top
Mayor Sharp
Technically, it’s his first time being mayor of Rocky Top. He was mayor of the town formerly known as Lake City twice.
“I’m the guy that changed the name,” he laughed.
He doesn’t regret it, despite the fact that the promises attached to the name never came to fruition.
Sharp has been in city politics for 28 years. He served as mayor from 1998-2002 and again from 2010-2014.
He stayed involved as a council member even when he lost re-election in 2014.
What does he get asked about most?
“If I’m going to get them a grocery store,” he said.
Sharp said he has spoken with the property owner of what used to be Shop Rite. She wasn’t the one who ran the store, but leased the building to the owners. There are liens against the property because of debt, according to Sharp, which makes selling it a challenge.
“People don’t want to buy it with a lien on it,” he said.
And while neither he nor any other city official can make a grocery store come to Rocky Top, they can make the city more inviting to investors. That’s something he plans on continuing.
“I really hope to see that happen,” he said. “It won’t happen before the first of the year.”
City officials don’t yet know how much tax revenue has been lost since Shop Rite shut down, but they hope to replace it with new business in the area soon.
“We live off of tax revenue and tourism,” Sharp explained.
Shop Rite was one of the biggest sources of tax revenue.
The two Dollar General stores have seen an increase in business, but that doesn’t help people looking for fresh meat or produce nearby.
“If someone wants to do a major grocery shop, they have to go elsewhere, and that’s sad,” he said.
He said that Rocky Top has two of the three Anderson County exits, and has high hopes that, with the efforts of the rest of council and City Manager Michael Foster, things will begin to improve economically soon. He cited a number of potential business investments, including Hillbilly Market expanding its shopping center.
The town voted on liquor by the drink in 2016 in hopes of attracting more restaurants like O’Charley’s and Red Lobster, but so far, that hasn’t happened.
When Sharp was last mayor, there was no city manager.
“I was glad that Michael came on,” Sharp said. “He’s a go-getter.”
Sharp also wasn’t retired last time he served. He plans on attending as many local, county and state meetings as possible. He believes that by being more visible and assertive about the needs of Rocky Top, the “higher-ups” will be more agreeable to seeing what can be done.
As far as another development on the scale of the original Rocky Top development dream:
“The original plan, I felt good about,” he said. “But when they tried to expand on it… I saw that it just wasn’t going to work. There were so many hang ups.”
He hopes that something like that can still happen, but for now, the plans are on hold. He is more optimistic about growth on a small scale, which he believes can happen through a combination of grants and business investors.
Former Rocky Top Mayor Michael Lovely was honored last week at his last city council meeting as Rocky Top Mayor.
According to a proclamation read during the meeting, many projects were completed under his guidance. Those include the first splash pad in Anderson County, securing the property for the new Coal Creek Miner’s Museum, receiving over $1 million in grant funding, updating equipment in all city departments, securing a ladder truck for the fire department at no cost to the city, a tractor with a boom arm for public works, also at no cost to the city, oversaw a major paving project, updated water lines, water meters and reduced water loss by over 50-percent.