Townsend officials clarify planning commission approval of hotel plan

Townsend officials clarified recent city planning commission approval of a novel hotel development during a city commission meeting Tuesday night, March 19, amid calls from residents to nullify the decision. In a room full of guests, Townsend Planning Commission Chair Michael Talley told the audience that commissioners were legally obligated to approve the plans.

The proposed Ofland Great Smoky Mountains development, previously known as Yonder Great Smoky Mountains, received planning commission approval in January, ending months of debate by choosing to treat the business as a hotel instead of a campground. Developers had initially asked for the site to be rezoned last summer, but have slowly pared down the scope of the proposed development.

In previous meetings, legal counsel for the developers has argued to planning commissioners that the proposed business meets the criteria of a hotel under Townsend’s ordinances.

Previous coverage by The Daily Times relates how Townsend citizens have attended city meetings protesting the development and saying it will negatively affect the “peaceful side of the Smokies” aesthetic for which Townsend is known. At some meetings, they held signs and wore matching shirts.

Questions

On Tuesday, residents called city commissioners to invalidate the planning commission’s approval of the development plans.

“Efforts to open a business should not conflict with our quality of life,” said Tomi McEvoy Tuesday. Reading from a letter, she represented a party that appeared on the commission agenda as the “No Yonder Group.”

In a previous meeting, McEvoy presented city commissioners with questions about the planning commission’s decision, urging them to take action. Residents, she said, had heard reports of private meetings where commissioners discussed business with Ofland developers and wanted to see transcripts or recordings.

They had also heard that then-planning commissioner Sandy Headrick had voted on the Ofland plans despite her term having expired.

At the request of Townsend Mayor Don Prater, Talley read a statement addressing those questions and others. Headrick’s term, he said, had indeed expired.

“Unfortunately, this escaped the attention of city administrators,” Talley said. City officials had reviewed the vote counts, he said, and determined removing Headrick’s vote would not change the outcome of the planning commission’s 5-1 decision.

Choices

Talley confirmed informational meetings between planning commissioners and developers had occurred, but assured the audience that such meetings are not unusual. Commissioners can often give valuable information to developers navigating the approval process, he said, but no transcripts or recordings of those conversations exist.

Since the city’s legal counsel agreed the Ofland development met the city’s criteria for a hotel, Talley said commissioners had no choice but to approve it.

“The planning commission tests submitted plans against the city’s zoning criteria,” he said. “If they meet the criteria, we are legally required to approve them.”

Prater, who provided the sole nay in the planning commission’s January vote, told guests at the meeting he would like the city to begin examining the definitions in its ordinances to better serve the desires of its residents. Some of the city’s texts are old enough to mention phonographs, he said, and he wants officials to schedule a work session to examine ordinances in more detail.