FARRAGUT, Tenn. — UPDATE (4/11): The Farragut Board of Mayor and Alderman has decided to move forward with the Knox Co. growth plan with a 3-2 vote in its favor on April 11.
Many residents and Alderman made their stances on the growth plan known throughout the meeting. However, despite some of their wishes, the plan will continue.
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The Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen is now expected to take another vote on whether to approve growth policy plan changes during its April 11 meeting. The board held a fiery, special meeting on Wednesday after the growth policy plan amendments failed the previous week.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said following Farragut's March 28 decision he would declare an impasse with the municipality, formally starting the remediation process with the state. He attended Wednesday's meeting after failing to attend the previous one and said he had not formally started the remediation process.
He said he had not yet sent a letter to the Tennessee Secretary of State's Office to start the process.
So, the board had a chance to reconsider its vote. Scott Meyer, who previously voted against the growth policy, made a motion to add a proposal to the April 11 agenda that would rescind the March 28 decision and reconsider the growth policy plan amendments.
Following the motion, Alderman Danny White erupted against his fellow board members, calling them "suckers" before leaving the meeting. Without his vote, the board voted unanimously in favor of Meyer's motion.
"I am simply trying to represent my people as best as possible, and that is why I have stood against this policy," said one member of the board, explaining his previous vote against the growth plan.
Both the Knoxville City Council and the Knox County Commission had already voted to approve it. Farragut's blessing would clear the final hurdle for the county's 2.5-year effort to plan the next 20 years.
Mayor Jacobs announced the Advance Knox Initiative in 2022. It took public input and planned the county's growth areas for the next 20 years.
"Hopefully this will really isolate the developments around where infrastructure supports it and protect those more rural areas out in those farming communities," Knox County Senior Director of Public Works Jim Snowden said at the time.
Though the initiative didn't include areas inside Knoxville's city limits and the town of Farragut, state law required both entities to approve it.
"The best way would be if they would reconvene and vote for it, I don't think that's going to happen," Jacobs said on Monday.