Rocky Top seeks grant for downtown improvements
Rocky Top Mayor Kerry Templiin, seated-center, addresses the City Council on the issue of air-ambulance benefits for city workers during last Thursday’s (July 20) regular council meeting. (photo:G Chambers Williams III )
The money would come from the 2023 Tennessee Department of Transportation Multimodal Access grant fund, and would require a 10% match from the city, which would be $125,000.
TDOT already is planning to upgrade and repave much of Main Street (U.S. 25W) through the downtown area. The sidewalk would be built to complement the improved roadway, and give downtown visitors a safer and more convenient route to walk or bike through downtown.
This is for the second phase of downtown sidewalk improvements. The city was approved for a $900,000 TDOT Multimodal Access grant in 2020. That grant required a 5% match for the project, on top of the grant, then-City Manager Michael Foster said at the time.
As part of the revitalization of downtown Rocky Top, the initial grant was to help pay for upgraded sidewalks along Main Street between First and Fourth streets, including new curbs and gutters and more pedestrian crosswalks.
Foster said at the time that the work was expected to come in two phases, with the second phase including sidewalk upgrades down the side streets (First to Fourth streets), as well.
“In the first phase, we’ll be adding curbs and gutters back in on U.S. 25W, along with pedestrian crossings,” Foster said in 2020.
“We want to draw more people into downtown, and we hope these improvements will help lead to more private redevelopment, such as new paint and windows on some of the buildings,” he added.
Some of that private development has begun to materialize, and will continue with such projects as the expected fall opening of the new Coal Creek General Store.
Rocky Top has become popular with all-terrain-vehicle riders who come into town off the nearby trails of the Windrock Off-Road Park.
Over the years, as TDOT has periodically repaved Main Street, the curbs of the existing sidewalks have been paved over, making them less appealing to pedestrians.
The sidewalk upgrades also are designed to make them compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
In other business during the July 20 meeting, the council:
• Discussed but did not approve any new “chicken” permits for Rocky Top residents. Since the city approved a change in the animal-control ordinance last year to allow chickens to be kept inside the city, only one person has applied for and been granted the $25-a-year permit, City Manager Michael Ellis said.
Only three “female chickens” — hens — are permitted on any lot of at least a half-acre, and a maximum of six are allowed on lots of at least an acre or more. No roosters are permitted.
And to help keep them from becoming a nuisance to adjoining property owners, the chickens must be in an approved henhouse during night hours, and their pens must be enclosed to keep them from escaping, or from predators or vermin entering the henhouses.
The amendment to the ordinance was drawn up and recommended by the city’s Planning Commission, and the City Council approved the revisions on a unanimous vote during its Sept. 15, 2022, meeting.
Then-Mayor Timothy Sharp brought up the idea during the council’s May 2022 meeting, saying that some residents had approached him about the city changing its codes to allow chicken “farming” inside the city limits.
Before the change, no chickens were allowed to be kept inside the city. They were considered “livestock,” which is not permitted under city ordinances. The prohibition continues for other livestock, which the ordinance specifically mentions to include “cows, sheep, horses, mules, goats, roosters, ducks, geese, or other domestic fowl,” within the city limits, regardless of lot size.
• Approved extension of a general engineering services agreement with Cannon & Cannon Consulting Engineers for fiscal year 2023-24 for work on the city’s water and sewer improvement programs.