TDOT facility for Rocky Top appears to be still on track
The Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to build a $2.6 million maintenance and storage facility on this 8.86-acre site along Cobb Hollow Road just off Norris Free- way at Interstate 75, Exit 128. (photo:G Chambers Williams III )
That’s the take some attendees left with after a recent meeting between local and county officials and TDOT over the facility, after the Rocky Top City Council passed a resolution in January opposing the planned $2.6 million project.
Rocky Top Councilman Zack Green, the only member of the council to vote against the resolution, said this week that he remains in favor of the TDOT facility, and believes that it’s still on track despite the local opposition.
“The vibe I got from the meeting is that TDOT will be pushing forward,” Green said. “They are years into this project. They bought the property over two years ago, after spending over a year looking for the right place to put the facility.”
Green said TDOT told attendees at the meeting that the new facility will create at least 15 jobs.
“They went into detail why they chose this property, and they seem set on using it,” Green said. “Their goal is to have one facility like this in every county in Tennessee, and they don’t have one in Anderson County right now.
“They are trying to put this one here because it’s the perfect location,” he said.
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, who helped set up the meeting, has personally supported the TDOT project in Rocky Top from the start, and remains in favor of it, she has said.
Rocky Top’s opposition only showed up late last year after Kerry Templin was elected mayor, unseating longtime Mayor Timothy Sharp.
Green said TDOT approached the Rocky Top Planning Commission about two years ago and heard only encouragement for the storage and maintenance facility.
“TDOT came to one of our planning meetings as a courtesy,” Green said. “They didn’t have to do that. But everybody at the Planning Commission was for it. I think it’s great. It’s going to benefit the community more than tax revenue from any one business that might locate on the property.
“And my thought is that it might encourage other businesses to update and renovate their property,” Green said.
Both the Rocky Top City Council and the Anderson County Commission in January passed resolutions opposing the location of the facility along Cobb Hollow Road – but nearly two years after the state announced its plans for the 8.86-acre site.
The state bought the property in September 2021.
Templin first brought his opposition to the project to the County Commission’s Operations Committee in mid-January, and then to the full commission on Jan. 16, where a resolution Templin submitted to the county passed on a narrow 8-6 vote.
On Jan. 19, Templin brought up the resolution in the regular Rocky Top City Council meeting, where it passed by a 4-1 vote, with Green as the lone dissenter.
According to the TDOT plan forwarded to Frank in April 2021, the state proposes to build several structures on the property, including a 40-by-80-foot maintenance building for $694,400; a 30-by-110-foot construction building for $561,000; a 40-by-300-foot equipment shed for $456,000; a 40-by-120-foot salt bin for $312,000; and a wash bay for $300,000.
The state paid $210,000 for the land, and expects to spend $50,000 for site preparation and installation of utilities.
Templin said he opposed the project based on assertions that the land is prime future retail development space for the city.
TDOT spokesman Mark Nagi in Knoxville said in an email to The Courier News in late January that it would take “24-30 months to construct.”
“We already owned the land,” Nagi said. “This facility will house offices and a salt bin. All of maintenance activity for Anderson County will be centered there. This will allow us to have quick responses in case of emergencies.”
Templin said the tract — which sits behind a closed convenience store at Norris Freeway and Cobb Hollow Road — is “prime retail space” for future growth of Rocky Top, and should be preserved for that purpose.
“The city of Rocky Top has limited areas available for retail opportunities, and the properties surrounding the two interstate exits currently generate over 70 percent of the city’s tax base,” the city’s resolution said. “The proposed TDOT facility is located only one parcel away from Norris Freeway (U.S. Hwy. 441) and is of vital importance to improving the city’s much-needed future revenue structure.”