9:36 am Planning team hears report from city planning director on future annexation
In a meeting described by Carter County School Board member Jerry McMahan as “the most important session we’ve had to date,” members of the long-range facilities planning team received a presentation on the City of Elizabethton’s Urban Growth Plan.
Elizabethton City Planning Director Jon Hartman appeared before the planning team during their Friday afternoon meeting at the central office. Hartman’s presentation included a brief history of annexation issues in the State of Tennessee. In 1998, the Tennessee General Assembly approved Public Chapter 1101 as a measure to regulate how cities can legally annex unincorporated areas adjacent to their borders.
Photo by Jason Mullins - Elizabethton City Planning Director John Hartman appeared at Friday’s meeting of the Carter County Schools Long-Range Facilities Planning Team to present a report on the history of annexation in Tennessee and the city’s urban growth plan. Hartman was asked by School Board member Jerry McMahan to come to the meeting so the team members could get a better understanding of how annexation could impact Carter County Schools in the future.
The 1998 law required all municipalities in the Volunteer State to develop an urban growth plan by the year 2000. “The legislation also required the creation of a county coordinating committee for annexation and a plan that outlines a municipality’s urban growth boundaries,” Hartman noted.
McMahan, who is also serving as the planning team facilitator, asked Hartman to appear before the group to give them a better understanding of how Elizabethton’s urban growth and future annexation plans could impact the county school system.
The unincorporated areas of the Happy Valley community were discussed in great detail at Friday’s meeting. Hartman told the board that even though Happy Valley High School falls within the city limits of Elizabethton, the city does not have the legal authority to simply take over the school. He noted that if the city ever determined they need additional classrooms for high school students or if the students living in the unincorporated areas of Happy Valley were to be annexed into the city limits, the city “can’t just come in and take the school from the county.”
In the event that the City of Elizabethton decides that the school fits within a growth plan, they would approach the Carter County Board of Education and the Carter County Commission about reaching a deal to purchase the school. He noted, however, that the city does not have any plans to pursue such a course of action because Elizabethton High School is not presently overcrowded.
“Right now, the school still has room for about 200 additional students. So, overcrowding is not a consideration we are presently facing,” said Hartman.
McMahan asked Hartman if Elizabethton has any immediate plans for annexing unincorporated portions of Carter County. “Right now, we don’t have any immediate plans for annexation. I am working on a study for future annexation for the city planning commission that includes potential portions where we could annex down the road,” Hartman said.
In addition to the potential impact that Elizabethton’s annexation plan could have on the county school system, McMahan also told the planning team that they need to consider the impact of annexation from the City of Johnson City. The urban growth plan for Johnson City does include portions of Western Carter County.
Following Hartman’s presentation on annexation, the planning team also began initial discussions on creating their strategic report. As part of the study, the planning team will develop a communication plan for their upcoming public meetings. Beginning in April or May, the planning team will hold a series of five or six public sessions in the various communities of Carter County. Keith Church of the Carter County Board of Education will be responsible for setting up the public meetings at schools throughout the county.
Members of the planning team agreed that the first series of public meetings will be limited to fact finding sessions. “We cannot go into these meetings and already have the answers to the questions that will be asked by the community. What we want to do is simply listen to the concerns of the public and what they believe are the most important areas that we need to examine,” said McMahan.
A second phase of meetings later in the year will focus on explaining to the public what information the planning team will be examining and why they believe it is important to the future of the Carter County School system.
The strategic report initial outline also identified several areas where the planning team is expected to gather information. Those areas include green technology, the direction of public education in the future, transitioning students from high school to higher education and the urban growth plans for Elizabethton and Johnson City.
McMahan’s initial strategic report outline indicated that the team will collect data on the status of current facilities in the county school system, past and present enrollment data, teacher-to-pupil ratios for Carter County and Elizabethton City Schools, per-pupil costs and an in-depth study of the curriculum at each level in all areas of study.
The planning team will meet again on Friday, March 9 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the Carter County Schools Central Office, 305 Academy St. in Elizabethton. The planning team encourages interested residents to attend the meeting to learn more about their mission.
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