LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT) – The Home Builders Association of Greater Knoxville is suing Loudon County over limits on building homes on certain roads.

“To ensure that we can continue to provide affordable homes under fair and transparent zoning and regulation policies,” said Becky Snyder, Home Builders Association of Greater Knoxville.

The suit claims Loudon County passed a moratorium without proper notice required by the state.

Both sides said they want to promote growth for Loudon County. County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw said they want to protect the rural areas and Snyder said she wants to make sure local builders are able to provide homes for people.

She adds that HBAGK advocates for local builders across East Tennessee.

“So we have a lot of trades and suppliers and builders and home owners that live and work in Loudon County, so this is important to them and therefore important to us as an association,” said Snyder.

The point of the lawsuit, according to Snyder, is to make sure both sides are following the rules when it comes to building properly.

Bradshaw said the moratorium was a pause on development. It’s aimed to prevent building subdivisions with 10 lots or more near county roads less than 20 feet wide.

He said the current regulation the board is looking to change prevents subdivisions with five lots or more being built near county roads less than 18 feet wide.
“So that’s going to help reduce some of the traffic coming on some of these roads,” Bradshaw said. “I live on one of those roads myself, and I know when you pass another vehicle then you know it’s not always safe. Everybody slows down sometimes. Clean out a ditch if you have to if it’s a big vehicle.”

He’s talking about rural and narrow roads like Browder School Road. Bradshaw said since this is still being worked on, people can share their thoughts at county’s public meetings.

“Every one of our meetings, we have a public comment section. Our workshops are open for any comment. Of course, with our voting meetings on the first Mondays, those are per state law to name to what’s on the agenda,” Bradshaw said. “But our workshops, anybody can come in and talk about whatever they want to talk about.”

Bradshaw said the pause is temporary as the commission board works on a permanent resolution for developments on narrow roads

He said they’ll meet back in court in the coming weeks.