Image Credit: Eminent domain by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free
The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal] –
The City of Knoxville, Knox County Government, and Knoxville-Knox County Planning applied to obtain federal funding to develop thousands of housing units for both the city and outlying areas of Knox County. Their application for grant funding discusses the need to overcome citizen objections and identifies Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC) as a key player.
With KCDC having the power of eminent domain, what could possibly go wrong?
Tennessee law has a little-known provision that authorizes housing authorities, like KCDC, to use eminent domain to acquire property for redevelopment in blighted areas. Such areas are defined in statute so broadly that almost any property, good or blighted, can be grouped together and taken by eminent domain and turned over to private developers. This provision is called the “blighted area loophole.”
KCDC is on-the-record fighting legislative attempts to reform the “blighted area loophole” so they can maintain their ability to easily condemn non-blighted property and take it by force. (Senate Judiciary Committee Testimony, February 25, 2020, Senate Bill 2058)
If you have any doubt that eminent domain can be used to sweep up well-kept code-compliant tax-generating properties along with blighted ones for redevelopment, please read the Commercial Appeal article linked here. In 2018 over 2000 property owners in Hamilton County, Tennessee dodged a bullet under this provision of law.
The Pathways to Removing Obstacles (PRO) Grant Application specifically states that “existing Blighted Property Redevelopment Program” will be a component of the housing development plan. It also lays out its priorities for the city.
Knoxville restructured its zoning code to include provisions for what it calls “Middle Housing”, essentially a plan to approve higher density residential development in areas where it was previously not permitted.
Many are asking why Knox County government was a party to this application to begin with.
The PRO application also outlines a plan to overcome citizen objections to proposed housing development by using a combination of regulatory changes and public relations efforts.
Commissioner Andy Fox (R-Knoxville) weighed in on the issue.
“It is alarming to see the widespread attitude of government bureaucrats that citizens exist for the purpose of serving government bureaucrats’ utopian social justice schemes, rather than government primarily existing to serve citizens who are actually making good choices in life, working hard, paying their taxes, and upon purchasing a home and thus investing their life and income into a community, expecting stability in and enjoyment of their community. This expectation is actually criticized in the grant proposal. This grant seeks to thwart the very essence of American, Tennessean, and Knox Countian civics – the participation by the citizen in representative government.
It is disheartening to see the acceptance at face value as though true, the defamation of a significant proportion of the Knox County citizenry, by maintaining the mythology of disparities or segregation because of systemic racism. A polity system has two components: laws and people. The laws in this country were made just 60 years ago. No other premise remains except that the grant writers are leveling the accusation that a large proportion of Knox Countians must be exercising prejudice based upon race, which is both a false and defamatory accusation.
It is my understanding that after discovery of this proposal for grant, and fellow Commissioner Angela Russell’s directing Mayor Jacobs’ attention to the frightening aspects of this proposal, Mayor Jacobs withdrew Knox County from participation in this proposal.” – said Andy Fox, Knox County Commission, District 9.
“The people of Knox County feel somewhat insulated from the craziness of the rest of the country and believe they are safe from it all. Meanwhile, local politicians with purposeful disregard for their constituents or their input are making decisions which will result in a community that Knox County natives no longer recognize, created by changes they didn’t request or want. It is up to people to get off the couch and get involved in the critical decisions that affect every one of us every day. We must remember that the community belongs to the people, not the elected officials and politicians.” – said Tracey Smith, Chair, Knox for Liberty.
If the county pulls out of the proposed development, private property owned within the city remains at risk of eminent domain.
To see the entire 49-page PRO Application, a link is provided here.
About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and current Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
What, exactly, are the plans for this housing development? In the State of Maine, they did something similar to this and it was used for illegal alien housing.