The new land use plan they have proposed for all farms from Soddy Daisy to Sale Creek
On June 18 at 9:30 a.m., our elected commissioners will have the last word on standalone Agriculture designations being removed by the mayor’s office direction. Let your voice be heard on way or another, write, telephone, text.
Comprehensive plans are supposed to protect Hamilton County residents from unchecked development, traffic jams, overflowing sewers, localized flooding, and no left turns after 3:30.
Thank goodness the existing 2016 plan helped prevent all that, right?
That is the fiction the public is being sold.
In reality, the planning commission is dominated by developers and professionals in the industry.
Why are the obvious blatant conflicts of interest in plain view ignored? Do we need a billboard to point it out? Meanwhile, planning regulations have grown too complex, and the current commission is fully trained—it might not make sense to replace them with novices.
I sure miss Commissioner Tim Boyd right now. Tim, the public misses you. You would have exposed the removal of Agriculture as a standalone land use and designation. All trails lead back to the mayor’s office, which sent the draft Plan Hamilton back to the RPA to sweep farms under a whimsical label called “countryside residential,’ a ridicules term for high intensity Agriculture.
On Wednesday, June 18, at 9:30 a.m. (Soddy Daisy time), the County Commission will vote on a new comprehensive plan.
What no one is discussing is this: for the first time in Hamilton County history, every farm in Hamilton County has been stripped of its Agriculture designation and reclassified as residential.
It is truly outrageous.
I have spoken with several commissioners I trust. They were unaware that the Agriculture designation was deleted from farms. When I opened Plan Hamilton, I saw our farm—and every century farm—labeled “residential.” That is deeply offensive and an insult to agricultural commerce and every farmer in the county.
Plan Hamilton fails to recognize that agriculture is commerce by action and definition, and is the production of goods from land, soil and water. It is commerce, not residential. Many farms don’t even have a house on their Agriculture land.
Kim Helton—Hamilton County farms need you. Please help farms organize.
Every farm in Plan Hamilton is now labeled “Countryside Residential.” Agriculture as a standalone identity was deleted by RPA at the direction of the mayor’s office. Farming is commerce, by every state and federal definition. This is the Home Builders Association running Hamilton County, not the people we elect.
All active commercial farms have been lumped into this new “Countryside Residential” category. Most of these properties have no houses—they are not residential. In the future, this move could render farming a nonconforming land use. A residential designation on every farm clearly has a purpose.
Either way, farms are not being represented. Underrepresented doesn’t even begin to cover it. Apparently, farms don’t have one friend in this process—not one elected official has stated farming is not residential. Although every state and federal organization defines farming as commerce. In fact, Tennessee is 12th in the nation for cattle production, as Governor Lee knows.
Why, for the first time ever, is the agriculture designation removed from every farm in Hamilton County? It is dishonest and suggests a motive, an end game. It is wishful thinking that every farm becomes a subdivision for the special interest people running Plan Hamilton.
Hmm... why? I asked elected and appointed officials for days.
Why was Agriculture zoning deleted from every farm?
Every commercial farm registered with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, USDA Farm Service Agency, and the Century Farm Program has been reclassified as residential by Hamilton County and the RPA in their comprehensive plan.
I believe even the beloved Crabtree Farms and Century Farms in Georgetown have been reclassified as residential. Plan Hamilton labels every active farm as “Countryside Residential,” merging them with rural housing. They must believe that commercial farming no longer exists—and doing this for the benefit of developers.
I lean toward the latter, and you cannot get a straight answer out of the county.
Why?
It depends who you ask. I’ve heard many answers—but only one I trust.
For the first time ever, there is not a single designated Agriculture zone in the county. That’s not an oversight—it’s intentional. Was it the Home Builders Association? The Chamber? Some special interest? Someone asked Agriculture to be shelved and had enough pull to get it done.
I believe this is a setup to make farming nonconforming under state law in the future. If a farm pauses for one generation, the county may treat it as a residential zone permanently. That is the danger for Agriculture.
We need stronger protections for agriculture in state planning law. RPA and Hamilton County just canceled the exitance of stand along Agriculture on every farm regardless of its active status. Seeing a Century Farm reclassified from Agriculture to “Countryside Residential” is offensive. Our farm is recognized by every federal and state agency as Agricultural Commerce—except by RPA and Hamilton County.
Whoever is driving this clearly does not understand that high-intensity commercial farms still operate here. Or maybe that’s exactly their mission—to delete them.
Planners say farmers should have attended the meetings. That’s a flimsy excuse. Most of us work full-time, care for families, and fund these bloated planning efforts with our taxes.
It is absurd that citizens must constantly attend meetings just to prevent their property rights from being harmed.
Many groups are raising red flags about Plan Hamilton. Agricultural producers may need to take meaningful legal or political action. I will not allow a residential designation to be the future of what is a century long active farm.
Plan Hamilton is a divisive document. Why would the county place a residential designation on all farms, when the actual land use is farming?
One answer I received: 53 percent of the county is zoned Agriculture, and they (whoever they is) wants to reduce it, under direction from the Home Builders Association.
That’s the most honest and logical answer I’ve heard.
Some even slipped up and said: This is for the future, not now. Like calm down, you will be dead by then. I filed a Freedom of Information request to identify all registered farms in the county.
I learned that RPA and their consultants never consulted with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, USDA, FSA, or NRCS to determine which farms are actually active in Agriculture production and commerce. No inquiry at all. When you have a political end game, facts never get in the way.
Hamilton County government does not have an accurate farm count. One representative of RPA stated that winter flyovers were used to estimate.
Yeah—that is helpful in the winter.
In the 2016 plan Renewing Our Vision, 11,000 acres of Agriculture land were listed. Sure, the number should be updated. But deleting Agriculture land use entirely? That is a political strategy than a planning process.
Commercial Agriculture is real and active here. The correct land use for a farm is Agriculture—because that is what it is.
Now farms must do the work RPA was paid millions to do, research.
For the first time ever, Agriculture land use has been deleted as standalone commerce that it is.
When government tells you not to worry, this is for the future take action. Farms need protection that exceeds Hamilton County’s authority.
In the meantime, please call your county commissioner about standalone Agri Commerce being deleted from the new comprehensive plan.
April Eidson
Registered Angus Seedstock Producer
Former USDA-FSA Committee Member, North Hamilton County
American Angus Association
Mowbray Mountain, TN
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Area plans were drafted to guide growth responsibly based on constituent input, commissioner input, and infrastructure constraints. Most plan land use designations are based off of existing Hamilton County zoning code. Hamilton County’s agricultural zone allows two houses per acre by right and is not agricultural only. Plan Hamilton does not change or remove any agricultural statuses or change existing zoning. The corresponding place-type in Plan Hamilton is Countryside Residential and is described below in Chapter 4 of the plan under place types.
Countryside Residential Place Types have a very rural character and consist primarily of single-family homes on large lots. Countryside Residential may include open fields, woodlands and streams or lakes, as well as accessory buildings, such as barns and greenhouses. This Place Type also includes the county’s agricultural uses related to the production of crops, livestock, forestry uses and agricultural service businesses ranging from roadside vegetable stands or feed and seed stores to larger production facilities. Residences and development centered around farming are typically on septic systems. Residences are generally further from key destinations than in other residential Place Types therefore, a personal vehicle is needed to reach daily needs. Fixed-route transit is not feasible, and sidewalks are not likely, due to the low density of these areas.
Area plans seek to guide future development and do not change existing zoning, greenbelt status or participation in federal or state agricultural programs.
Nathan Janeway
Director of Development Services
Hamilton County Government
Public Works Division