In Soddy Daisy, property values have had an average 22 percent increase over the previous appraisals done in 2017, Hamilton County Assessor of Property Marty Haynes said.
Mr. Haynes came to the Soddy Daisy Commission meeting Thursday night to give an overview of the property reassessments that have been done this year. He said they are done every four years and values are based on comparable sales within a neighborhood.
Reappraisals are done in mass based on square footage and number of bedrooms, not individually as a mortgage company would do, said Mr. Haynes.
Mr. Haynes said the increase in values does not mean a property tax increase for homeowners because the state will send the city a lower certified rate that is lower than the current rate, making the increase in value revenue neutral. The current tax rate in the city is 1.3524 per $100 of assessed value. The new rate will be given to the city in late July or early August.
He said if a homeowner disagrees with the new appraisal, they can contact the assessor’s office by phone or email by June 1 and present documentation pertinent to the property that the assessor’s office does not know.
Public hearings and the first reading to rezone two properties took place at the commission meeting. A tract of land located at 7316 Dayton Pike is 40 acres of property on the south end of town. The tract has 30 acres that are in a flood way. Attorney Arnold Stulce, representing Nashville developer Russ Morris, had successfully had the property zoned as C-2 at the end of last year, when attempting to put a commercial development there. That development did not work out.
Now Mr. Morris is proposing to build 216 units of multi-family dwellings on the same land. He has been working with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to raise the area for the buildings, out of the floodway. The housing would consist of six buildings, and a seventh building that would be a clubhouse. There would also be a swimming pool, a playground and a dog park. The development was recommended for approval by the planning commission, and the city commissioners agreed by approving the plan on the first reading. This investment and interest in Soddy Daisy confirms that Soddy Daisy is a desirable place to live, said Mr. Stulce.
Apartments had also been planned for another tract of land, located at 107 Tsati Terrace-Hixson Pike. This would have required a zoning change from A-1 Agricultural to R-3 Apartment-Townhouse District. The Soddy Daisy planning commission had recommended to deny the zoning change and the public hearing for this rezoning issue brought a room full of Soddy Daisy residents in opposition to the change. Jacob McNabb, representing the surrounding neighborhood, told the commissioners that he and others had moved there because of the agricultural nature of the area. He said it has historic homes and that apartments would be out of character. The neighbors also fear it would lower their own home values. This motion to rezone failed due to the lack of a second. That means it is dead for a year, said City Attorney Sam Elliott.
Ordinances that rezoned property on first reading previously, were approved on the second and final reading for three properties. Tracts of land at 8457 West parkway and 108-115 Pine Street were rezoned from C-2 Local Business and R-5 Single Lot Mobile Home district to R-1 Single Family Residential. Also, 8504 and 8506 Dayton Pike were rezoned from C-2 and R-5 to C-2.
Five lots on West Parkway and two lots on Pine Street were rezoned from C-2 to R-5 on final reading.
Approval was given to City Manager Burt Johnson to purchase thermal imaging cameras for the fire department. He said they are heat seeking cameras used to find hot spots after a fire or people who are lost in the woods. The cost is $29,875.
The agreement Soddy Daisy has with the Hamilton County EMS has been in place many years, and approval was given to sign the agreement to continue.
The fire department will also surplus a golf cart that is no longer needed.
The Public Works Director’s request to buy a knuckle boom truck for $180,000 and a dump truck for $106,427 were both approved. An agreement between the public works department and the water company was also approved for replacing six-inch pipes with 12-inch lines. Steve Grant, director of public works said gas lines are in a conflicting position which will cause the replacement work to be out in the highway. The city is trying to get all work that is under roadways finished before paving Dayton Pike to prevent road cuts. The agreement with TDOT for that paving work has been extended to the end of October.