Congratulations to ETQG Board member,
Kathryn Baldwin, for her recent retirement from the City of Oak Ridge after 16 years of service in Oak Ridge Community Development, and for her new role with Lose & Associates as office manage and senior planner in their new Knoxville office.
As reported in the Knoxville News Sentinel,
"several East Tennessee counties will see improvements to public facilities thanks to $1.9 million in funding" through the Clean Tennessee Energy Grants funded by the 2011 Clean Air Act settlement with TVA.
Among them are the cities of Jellico, LaFollette, Maynardville, and Morristown, as well as Cocke and Union counties for projects ranging from cost-effective lighting systems to efficient heating and air units.
On Thursday,
August 24, from 4:30 - 7:30 pm, there is an opportunity to share your ideas for the Highway 321 Bridge Corridor. An input session is scheduled for this date and will be a drop-in gathering to get ideas from the public on potential commercial and public recreational uses along 514 acres of TVA land.
East Tennessee Community Design Center will facilitate the input session for the Lenoir City Committee of 100, a fifty year old community organization which promotes economic and community development.
The session will take place at the Venue Conference Center, 7690 Creekwood Park Blvd, Lenoir City, TN 37772. (See the flyer
here.)
The map above shows the three tracts of land discussed and the new Highway 321 Bridge that will connect each tract for pedestrian, bike, and vehicle linkage. The area in yellow denotes existing commercial or public recreation features.
This project, with intent to tie the three land parcels and the new bridge together, is currently named the
East Tennessee Bridge Park. Because of its size, diversity, and potential scope it could truly become a regional resource. Regional groups and individuals interested in the quality growth of our region are encouraged to attend the Regional Input Session and make your vision known.
ETQG staff and board members recently participated in climate resilience
training provided by ORNL and the City of Knoxville. We're available to make presentations on regional climate impact preparedness using information compiled by our National Lab. The presentations
will outline climate science methods and predicted local climate impacts.
Interested? Please contact us about presenting at your group's meeting. We're available to make presentations and facilitate
thoughtful discussion on impact and response.
Stakeholder Input Needed in Tennessee Valley
TVA is seeking stakeholder input on the needs, opportunities, and priorities for its
Natural Resources Plan and Stewardship Activities. Community stakeholders are being asked to provide input on TVA's Natural Resources, specifically on each of the focus areas identified in the 2017 report, including:
stewardship of water resources
ecotourism resources
commercial and public recreation
cultural resources stewardship
land, wildlife, and habitat management
public land protection.
Feedback to assess stewardship needs in each area - including access, management, asset development or improvement, conservation or preservation, and public education or outreach needs - is also being solicited.
TVA
asks that you take some time (about an hour) to complete this survey, and share it with business owners, local officials, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, and residents in the Tennessee Valley Region! Submission deadline is
August 30.
Here is an introductory video:
TVA and the Conservation Fund, a national non-profit, convened six half-day listening sessions across the Tennessee Valley in June of 2017 to gather stakeholder input on TVA's Natural Resources. The findings from both the in-person sessions and online stakeholder input will be synthesized into a summary report of strategies or recommendations that inform TVA's strategic planning efforts and its future decision-making.
Walkability Speaker Series
The Walkability Speaker Series presentation
by Rob Brawner, Executive Director of the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, is now availableon our Youtube channel.
Stay tuned: the Walkability Speaker series will return this fall, and we will share more information as it comes available.
The events over this past year have been sponsored by: Knoxville Regional TPO, Tennessee Department of Health, East Tennessee Quality Growth, the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, the Knoxville Chamber, and the Knoxville Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Rural Communities Toolkit
Learn how rural communities can create and implement
fiscal impact analysis policy to help local government better understand the revenue and costs that comes with new development. Access the toolkit, courtesy of Smart Growth America,
here.
