Norris expects work to begin on Sawmill
Sawmill Road in Norris, which begins here at Orchard Road and now ends at the Norris industrial park, will be extended through the woods to connect with Norris Freeway (U.S. 441) behind Covenant Life Church. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
It’s a project the city has been dealing with since 2019 or earlier, and which was nearly abandoned in 2022.
Since then, the state has been acquiring right of way for the project, and Whited said a contract award is imminent.
In July 2022, the City Council gave the project new life by voting to spend an additional $213,000 in city funds to help pay for right-of-way acquisition.
The project, whose actual construction will be paid for entirely by the state, would extend Sawmill Road from its current terminus off Orchard Road to Norris Freeway.
On June 20, 2022, residents and council members agreed during a public meeting on the issue that the city should go ahead with the project, and the council made good on that decision during its July 2022 regular meeting.
Norris Mayor Chris Mitchell said during the public meeting that the city would still be on the hook to pay the state at least $167,000 for engineering work already completed on the extension plan even if the council chose to abandon the project.
Because of that, Mitchell said, continuing with the extension would cost the city only about $40,000 extra.
“My impression is that I needed this [input from residents], and I’m hearing support,” he said during the June 20 meeting. “I’m convinced the need is still there.”
Other council members echoed those sentiments.
The city paid $35,000 of TDOT’s estimated cost of $125,000 for right-of-way acquisition in 2019, which should have been all Norris would have had to pay for the extension.
Originally, Anderson County paid a matching amount to cover the $70,000 the state wanted in local funds to buy the property; TDOT was then expected to pay all of the engineering and construction costs of the extension.
But when the state began right of way acquisition in 2022, TDOT determined that the price for all of the required property had ballooned since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, officials said.
Residents on Pine Road have pushed for the Sawmill Road extension because it would allow trucks from the city’s industrial park area near the current end of the road to exit the city straight out to Norris Freeway next to Covenant Life Church, almost right across the highway from Cross Pike Road.
Now, those trucks must drive through the residential neighborhood on streets designed for 1936 traffic flows and vehicle sizes.
Another issue that might have caused property values to increase along the proposed route is that some of the property owners made improvements to their property, which raised their values even more.
Whited provided no further information about the project to the council during its monthly meeting Feb. 9.
In other business last week, the council:
n Passed on first reading an ordinance to adopt an updated city zoning map.
Whited said the new map does not change anything in the current zoning, but incorporates zoning changes that have been made since the last map was drawn several years ago.
There will be a public hearing on the measure, Ordinance 720-2026, at 5:45 p.m. Monday, March 9, just prior to the next regular council meeting, during which the council is expected to consider giving it final approval on second reading.
n Agreed to give the mayor or city manager the authority to enter into agreements “with various entities for the 2026 Norris Concerts on the Commons.”
Those free concerts are usually held beginning in May and running until July 4 each year, and are sponsored in part by Powell Clinch Utility District, which pays the performing artists.
n Also agreed to give the mayor or city manager the authority to enter into agreements with “various entities for the conduction of performances produced by the Norris Little Theatre.”
The Norris Recreation Commission announced on its Facebook page last week that Norris Little Theatre would be holding auditions for parts in its spring play, “the Red Velvet Cake War,” from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21 and Sunday, Feb. 22, at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 154 w. Norris Road.
n Passed on second and final reading Ordinance 718-2026, making several amendments to the city’s 2025-26 fiscal-year budget, which ends June 30.
No major changes in expenditures were reported.
n Heard from the Norris Tree Commission that the annual Norris Arbor Day celebration would be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 6, in the Norris Middle School cafeteria.
n Approved the mayor’s appointments of Deborah Grinder to the city’s Animal Shelter Commission, and of Nathan Irwin to the Norris Community Development Board.
