White Station Library
September 28, 1998
by Mark Norris
Just when you thought the "tiny town" travails of Chapter 98 were history and it was safe to go back into the country comes Chapter 1101--Tennessee's new annexation and land use planning law. Tennessee has joined the few states which have growth management statutes that specifically address agriculture and rural preservation.
The Soil Conservation District appointed me to represent agriculture on the Coordinating Committee formed to draft a growth plan for Shelby County under the new law. While I am known as a lawyer and a County Commissioner, few know that my family and I live, raise hay and share crop soybeans on a small farm in east Shelby County. I am a member of the Farm Bureau and serve on the Board of the Agricultural Extension Service. Roughly 30% of the land in Shelby County is devoted to farming, and it is all situated in the district I represent. Portions of each city in the county are also in my district which includes land that some may be clamoring for during the coming months.
Earlier this year, I testified before the state legislature’s joint committee on annexation as it debated Chapter 1101. I spoke about the need for a comprehensive urban growth policy that would promote regional prosperity while preserving choice over local concerns like zoning and neighborhood schools at home. The new law is intended to provide a framework for doing so. Whether we are up to the challenge remains to be seen, but it is perhaps the best opportunity Shelby County will ever have to assume its rightful role as the region’s unifying force.
Nationally, there is mounting evidence of a correlation between the loss of farmland and the inability of local governments to sustain good growth. Many areas of the country are bemoaning the loss of farmland to urban sprawl. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman says, "Much of America’s farmland is near major cities. And as our cities sprawl into neighboring rural areas, our farms are in danger of becoming subdivisions or shopping malls. We can’t sit back and take our farms, and the food they supply, for granted." Paul Johnson, former chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture, recently said, "We are going to wake up one day and say, where did all this beautiful land go? It’s pretty obvious that the direction we are going is not sustainable over the long haul." "Sprawl is creating a hidden debt of unfunded infrastructure and services, social dysfunction, urban decay and environmental degradation," according to Governor Parris N. Glendening of Maryland.
Is this happening here in Shelby County? According to the most recent census data available, acreage farmed in Shelby County has declined by about 32,000 acres. 246 farms have been lost over a ten year period. Population in the City dropped by 22,000 while Shelby County increased by 40,000. Memphis has slipped from 40th to 42nd in size.
Are we beneficiaries of this type of urban growth, or are we burdened by sprawl? On one hand, we have funded government services through growth in the value of property rather than through tax increases. We proudly boast of record economic development--over $1 billion of new investment in Shelby County last year alone.
On the other hand, we may be starting to see some holes in the fabric of urban growth and economic development. Despite record growth and development, budget shortfalls in the current fiscal year threaten to further cut government operations which have already been trimmed back to 1993 levels. In order to make ends meet, Shelby County no longer provides funding for fire service. The County’s bonded indebtedness has reached record levels--nearly three times that of the State of Tennessee, but we do not generate sufficient tax revenues to cover the debt service. We recently approved $655 million of additional borrowing to meet school construction costs over the next eight years, but neither City nor County systems have enough funding to meet operating costs at current levels. We are now investing millions of federal tax dollars in efforts to mitigate the damage done by filling in flood plains.
Given the current challenges we face and the unique opportunity we have been given to mold our own future, it is incumbent upon those of us who serve on the Coordinating Committee to do much more than draw new maps to contain the sprawl. Rather, it is for us to earnestly undertake the hard work that comprehensive planning for sustainable growth requires. We have within our grasp the opportunity to balance growth and progress with preservation of natural resources, to protect the rights of property owners from unwarranted regulation and confiscation, and to foster a sound economy for the entire region.
Among other things, the Coordinating Committee should renew the commitment to Shelby County’s Balanced Growth initiative adopted in 1996, and we should encourage all local governments to complete the Community Compact. We should encourage a comprehensive review and (if necessary) revision of outdated municipal and county land use and zoning ordinances to reflect the realities of urbanization and the need for conservation, including uniformity and consistency between governments in order to foster good growth. Modern day tools like cluster zoning and conservation easements should be encouraged. Collaborative efforts to provide water and waste water treatment throughout Shelby County. We must also engage in serious discussions about whether to establishing fixed boundaries for the City and County schools regardless of future annexations.
I share these thoughts as a lawyer, local legislator, and landowner. As a lawyer, I see many ambiguities in the new law any number of which might be exploited to circumvent the spirit of this initiative. As a local legislator, I realize that there are those who could reduce this opportunity to nothing more than a land grab for political gain. That would not be looked upon favorably by the County Commission which ultimately must approve the Coordinating Committee plan. As a landowner, I know the feeling of encroachment--that of urban growth which may threaten life in the country, and that of various constituent groups unreasonably opposed to all forms of development who unwittingly threaten the future in other ways.
Under any scenario, the road ahead will not be easy, but few things truly worth doing ever are.
