NEWPORT — Incredible Tiny Homes (ITH) and the tiny home development off Industrial Road was once again a hot topic at the Cocke County Regional Planning Commission on Tuesday evening.
Several residents from the tiny home community in attendance and some commissioners expressed varying degrees of outrage regarding recent alleged actions by Incredible Tiny Homes.
Residents — wishing not to be identified for fear of retaliation — said there are five homes in the development called The Mountain. According to some of those in attendance, power has been run from a utility pole that was at an old farmhouse on the property. The farmhouse was demolished for construction of the development.
They said some of the homes have no power while some have a generator or use solar panels. They also told of a home having to use cat litter in a toilet because there was no septic system installed.
“There are people living up there (The Mountain) who have no utilities,” one resident said, who did not want to be identified. “He (ITH proprietor Randy Jones) has said that Newport Utilities is waiting on the transformers, but these people have been waiting a long time. Nobody knows the truth of the situation.”
Not approved by planning commission
Both those in attendance and commissioners mentioned how work was continuing on the two developments across the road, known as The Mountain and Buffalo Creek. Neither development has been approved by the planning commission. It was pointed out that it had nothing to do with zoning, but the fact that a development of that nature should be approved by the planning commission per the subdivision guidelines. The subdivision guidelines in the county were enacted in 1978.
An email from Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis, which was in the meeting packet, indicated that he consulted with the county attorney, regional planner, building commissioner, planning commission chairman and the heads of both Newport Utilities and Jefferson-Cocke Utility District, and the consensus was that “all new developments that require new road and/or utility infrastructure, whether subdivided or not, shall require approval from the county regional planning commission before any utilities can be provided. This also applies to the expansion of any existing developments.”
According to subdivision guidelines, mobile home parks (and other non-subdivided permanent dwelling parks, communities, and so forth), campgrounds, RV parks, planned unit developments and the like should be approved by the planning commission.
‘A black mark on our county’
Commissioners questioned Regional Planner Harold Edwards about whether they had the authority to issue a stop work order to Randy Jones and ITH.
“The planning commission has the authority to make a recommendation to the building official to issue the order, but cannot require her to issue the order,” Edwards said. “Only the building official has the authority to issue a stop work order.”
“Why would he (Randy Jones) not follow the rules?” Commissioner Lee Willis asked. “It says a lot about a county that will allow this kind of activity to continue to happen. This is a black mark on our county.”
There was some applause from the audience.
Per the subdivision regulations, the term subdivision means “the division of a tract of parcel of land into two or more lots, sites, or other divisions requiring new street or utility construction, or any division less than five acres for the purpose, weather immediate or future, of sale or building development and includes re-subdivision and, when appropriate to the context, relates to the process of re-subdividing or to the land area to be subdivided.”
Still waiting for homes
Some of those from the tiny home community told about people who had paid for homes several months ago — or even years ago — and who had not had the homes delivered yet. They said people are living in cars. They said one customer had died before taking delivery of her home.
“People have paid for their homes and have been waiting years. They put everything they had into buying a home that they don’t have yet,” one person said, who also did not want to be identified. “People are living in their cars because they don’t have a home. One lady died before her home was delivered.”
“That is absolutely awful,” Willis said. “I hadn’t heard that.”
Commissioner Mike Johnson made the motion for a recommendation for the building commissioner to serve a stop work order at ITH regarding the work on The Mountain and Buffalo Creek. Willis seconded the motion then it passed unanimously.
‘Whistleblower’
Commissioner K.C. Barker read a letter from a former resident of the ITH community, Will Labrie , who has since moved out of state. Labrie had been outspoken about ITH and was told his lease would not be renewed on his lot. Because of the size of his tiny home it couldn’t be easily moved, so he sold it.
Chairman Phil Morgan Jr. referred to Labrie as a “whistleblower” and said that he was probably retaliated against and his lease not renewed for being outspoken.
The letter detailed many problems that the Labries and others have said they have had with ITH. Also attached was a copy of an email or letter sent out to residents by ITH and Randy Jones offering an extended lease on lots. For example, the cost of a long term lease for 100 years at a fixed lot rent that is transferable to a beneficiary or a buyer ranges from $20,000 to $40,000. Some in attendance questioned the legality of the long-term fixed lease agreement.
According to the email, ITH is working on its seventh tiny home community, which will be located in Dunlap, Tennessee.
According to planning commission records, ITH has never had a site plan approved by the commission. That includes the existing development and the different communities, such as the Beach, the Forest and the Prairie. According to subdivision guidelines, which were enacted in 1978, all those developments should have been approved by the commissioners.
Building Commissioner Ashley Shelton was not in attendance at the planning commission meeting, but when contacted later by The Plain Talk, she said to her knowledge there had never been any kind of site plan approved for ITH. She said per subdivision guidelines all of the developments should have had site plans submitted for approval.
In the past, a stop work order was served on ITH for a zoning violation.
Todd Quatro, an engineer who represented ITH at a past planning commission meeting, had referred to the development as a planned unit development (PUD). Documents from ITH’s law firm referred to a document by TrueLine Land Surveying, LLC, for a PUD concept and plat.
‘Are we going back in time?’
Shelton has asked that a representative of ITH be at the next planning commission meeting, which is set for Sept. 24, and bring a site plan for The Mountain development.
The planning commission has also asked that the county attorney, Melissa Gossman, attend the September planning commission meeting as well.
“We need to get him (Randy Jones of ITH) here to explain to us what he is doing,” said Willis. “All the years I have served on the planning commission we have never come close to dealing with a situation like this.”
There were also photos of what appeared to be off-grid septic systems, which included images of three 55-gallon barrels and a larger white vertical storage tank. It was pointed out, however, that state law requires homes or developments to connect to city or county sewer if they are within a certain distance.
“What is this?” asked Morgan, holding up a photo. “Are we going back in time?”
“I’m embarrassed to be a part of this planning commission to allow this to go on as long as it has,” Willis said.
“This planning commission needs to be supported by our county,” Johnson added.
The regional planner said based on what was said by those in attendance at the meeting, there may be a case to take to the district attorney general’s office.
“To me this seems like it may be fraudulent and could be criminally prosecutable,” Edwards said, referring to the complaints from tiny home owners and community residents.
Per the subdivision regulations, utilities cannot be turned on at the new developments and a plat cannot be recorded with the register of deeds office until a site plan has been approved by the county planning commission.
According to the Cocke County Clerk’s office, the business license for ITH expired and has not been renewed.
Jones has not rescheduled an interview with The Plain Talk that had previously been set up, then canceled, at his request.
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