Sixteen counties in three states are being invited to participate in a process to create a 40-year roadmap for the region. According to Beth Jones, executive director of the Southeast Tennessee Development District, the success of the grassroots effort depends on public involvement and local government support. She emphasized, “Local governments are not being asked to sign any commitments of any kinds.” The idea, she said, is to open a dialogue on whether there would be value to a regional effort and ways it could be a benefit to citizens.

Jones explained that the effort began after a group of local officials visited Spartanburg, S.C. about ten years after a BMW plant opened there. She said the idea came after the VW plant began setting up shop in Hamilton County and leaders wanted to see the long-term impact. “We heard over and over that when BMW showed up in the region, they had plenty of water and sewer, uncongested roads, plenty of open and green space, and good air.” Now, she said, officials there are wishing they had an overall road map about how growth should occur. Instead, there was growth all over the place and costly infrastructure to maintain and operate. Jones said the officials from Spartanburg said they wished they had slowed down long enough to make better decisions about roads and infrastructure to reduce costs.

With several major industries locating in the southeast Tennessee area in the past few years, Jones said, there is concern about potential costs associated with growth. “We’ve got to figure out how to do more with less, to leverage limited financial resources,” she said. For example, Jones noted, everybody doesn’t need to build a wastewater treatment plant. The more communities there are to pay for basic services, she said, the less the burden on any one. “We need to think beyond our county lines and even state lines.”

Jones emphasized the process is not about usurping property rights. “If done correctly, it’s about enhancing the value of property and property rights.” She also pointed out the planning process has no legal entity that can usurp the authority of Polk County, Bradley County, the town of Benton or any other jurisdiction. If any regulations are even suggested, she said, they would still have to be approved and adopted by local governments throughout the region. The likelihood of that happening in three states and 16 counties won’t occur without the will of the people, she added.

Ultimately, Jones said, the goal is to find out what the people want, the choices they want to have in the future, what they value, and to determine how best to make that happen. As it is now, she said, local governments are asked to make decisions on the spur of the moment without an overall road map on where to go and how to get there. “They don’t have time to back up and find out what citizens value, what they want to maintain, enhance, or improve.”

For example, she said, if Polk County wants to be the playground, we need to see how to support that while making sure there is enough revenue to provide basic services. “It would be very short sighted to think that the natural beauty and resources such as clean air and water will stay intact without anybody giving some serious thought process to the need for stewardship.” She pointed out that the least costly type of development for government is green space and farmland. “If we value that, we need to think about that strategically.”

Jones said the planning process is expected to begin next year and take 18 months to two years. The consulting firm of McBride Dale Clarion was recently selected – after a series of interviews and public input – to facilitate the effort, which will include public sessions to get input. It’s vitally important that the public be involved, she said, noting there will be sub-regional sessions. She did not know if the available funds would make it possible to have county sessions but added it’s better to bring counties together so they can learn to understand each other and to work together. Funding for the regional effort is coming from several governments -- such as Hamilton, Chattanooga, Cleveland and Bradley – as well as regional planning groups, foundations, and industries. Jones said they had applied for a HUD sustainable communities grant but did not receive the funding, which is no longer available.

She said several times that counties are not required to buy into the process, noting with a region this size the emphasis will be on broad-based things. For example, she said, it’s often said that we don’t want to be like Atlanta with all the traffic congestion. If that’s the will, she said she would expect that local governments would think strategically about how to avoid that. It’s all a matter of  “what do we value,” she explained.

Asked if this effort has anything to do with the United Nations’ Agenda 21 initiative, which encourages sustainable growth, Jones said there is no connection. “The UN has nothing to do with this planning process. I don’t want it to have anything to do with it and I don’t think anybody else does,” she commented. She said again that there are no mandates associated with the process. “This is the United States of America. We have a Constitution.”

The hope is that a road map will make the region stronger and more competitive while encouraging counties to work together. “We’re in a global economy. It’s no longer about county versus county or state versus state. It’s about competitive regions.”

Those included in the footprint for the planning process include: Tennessee counties of Bledsoe, Bradley/Cleveland, Hamilton/Chattanooga, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Polk, Rhea and Sequatchie; Georgia counties of Catoosa, Dade, Murray, Walker, Whitfield/Dalton; and Alabama counties of DeKalb and Jackson.