TOWNSEND, Tenn. — Known as the “peaceful side of the Smokies,” the city of Townsend sits at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which sees roughly 13 million visitors each year.
in 2024, local leaders are developing a plan for the future of the area.
Residents worry with new development, Townsend could lose its signature reputation, although local leaders said that isn't possible because of the area’s limited infrastructure.
RELATED: 'Times are changing': Townsend leaders developing plan to determine future vision for the area
“Townsend is a jewel,” lifetime Blount County resident Zack Webb said.
Webb said he spends lots of time in Townsend, running Townsend Mercantile Co. alongside his wife.
“It's an area that just brings together all the beauty of the natural resources of the region, with the sitting at the entrance to the most visited park in the nation,” Webb said.
The city sits near the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and although it sees many visitors who pass through, Webb said it could not support as much tourism as neighboring cities.
“When you speak of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, you're looking at very high-density buildings side by side by side, and it takes a massive sewer infrastructure to support that, and that's just not plausible in Townsend.”
Richard Maples said he grew up fishing and hiking in Townsend.
“Millions of people come through there, but the key word is they come through there,” Maples said about the city. “So Smoky Mountains is the draw, tourism is the revenue to actually support the infrastructure.”
For decades, Maples helped develop the area, creating the “upscale development” Kinzel Springs. Then, Maples said he started a log home, a real estate and a construction company.
“And then I started a condominium complex, and then I bought a bank building and two or three other things that I lease out up there,” Maples detailed.
Based on his experience, Maples said the city lacks infrastructure for that type of growth.
“They don't have sewer in Townsend, and in my lifetime, I don't think they ever will. To put a sewer system in Townsend would be virtually impossible,” Maples said, drawing on his experience serving as chairman of a utility board in Knoxville. “Realistically, it can never become a Pigeon Forge.”
Maples said a waterline is in progress that will run from Maryville up to Townsend. According to Maples, that waterline has been around since the 1960s and does not mean the city will be getting a sewer system, calling rumors about that “simply not true.”
Maples said the reason for this is that the water line will be on one side of the highway, which has the river on the opposite side, thus not allowing for a sewer line.
“It's just virtually impossible,” Maples said. “It could be done, but it's…it'd be extremely expensive to do that.”
While Maples said a new sewer line isn’t in the city’s plan, the area is growing as it introduces more businesses, just not to the same scale as Pigeon Forge.
“You have to have progress,” Maples said. “If you don't, you're going to die.”
Townsend isn’t the only city seeing growth, Webb said.
“Look at any other area in the region, we're all growing,” Webb said. “There's been, I mean, you've got growth all around but it doesn't necessarily mean it's always bad.”
That growth does not, however, include attractions like what’s found in Pigeon Forge, Maples said.
“I do not think that you're going to see Ferris wheels and go-carts and that type of thing in Townsend, TN,” Maples shared.
One addition that is likely to come in the future, Maples said, is “better restaurants.”
The fear about Townsend turning into the next tourist hotspot is one that Webb said he’s familiar with.
“I think there is fear of change, and I think that's natural for us to fear change, and I don't think that's something that we should ignore,” Webb said. “But I would encourage residents to speak to those business owners, to understand that these are people that want and desire the same things.”
Webb and Maples said smaller-scale development is important to support tourism since it's the largest industry.
“There’s no major industry in Townsend outside of tourism,” Webb said. There is no factory. There is no industry in Townsend outside of tourism. So tourism is what funds Townsend to make the roads, to keep the roads serviced, to keep the police force there, to keep all of the things that function inside Townsend from a government standpoint, comes from tax revenue.”
The city does not collect a property tax from residents, Webb said, although there is a Blount County tax.