{"id":21149,"date":"2025-02-05T16:48:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=21149"},"modified":"2025-02-05T16:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:54:19","slug":"santa-fe-realtors-promote-diverse-housing-options-in-housing-strapped-region-2-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-2-4-2-2-3-2-4-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-3-2-2-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/etar-lu0225","title":{"rendered":"East Tennessee Association of REALTORS\u00ae Taps Land Use Initiative Program to Defeat Proposed Down-zoning in Knoxville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Knoxville, Tennessee witnessed a novel approach to municipal zoning last year. A new County Commissioner – in a district flagged as a future mixed-use hub \u2013 filed multiple resolutions on behalf of the commission in an attempt to avoid development by downzoning several properties without the owners\u2019 knowledge or consent. The East Tennessee REALTORS\u00ae <\/sup>did not agree with this in principle or in practice and turned to the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party\u2019s Land Use Initiative (LUI) program<\/a> for expert back-up. Their instinct was correct, and the resulting legal report was instrumental in denying passage of the unconventional effort.<\/p>\n

The REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party retains the legal services of Robinson & Cole, LLC, to review and analyze proposed legislation submitted to the Land Use Initiative program. Maria McHale, Governmental Affairs & Policy Director for East Tennessee REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup>, is a big fan. \u201cLUI is a fantastic program; we use it frequently. It saves us hours of research and grants access to professional legal services at the highest level, which would be thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

This instance was more a matter of education than a battle, she notes. \u201cThe LUI adds form, structure, and research-based credibility to our position. It equips us with background to give relevant information to elected officials, demonstrate our reasoning, and promote informed discussion.\u201d In this case, the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> were certain that zoning amendments should address changing land use circumstances deliberately, not arbitrarily after changes in personnel.<\/p>\n

Says McHale, \u201cOf course, our position is that private property rights need to be protected; the big picture is that the Commission is not the proper forum to reverse community planning, or to determine on a whim what private citizens can do with their property. The LUI analysis supported that concept with law, precedent, and procedural right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The region is in the process of implementing a broad planning effort called Advance Knox, a unified long-term vision for city and county; the next step will be to convert the plan\u2019s intentions into reality, explains McHale. One of the planned growth areas the community identified as a future residential\/commercial hub is in South Knoxville. It was the new commissioner representing this district who attempted to down-zone five of its parcels, the largest of which is a privately owned swath of 41 acres. The action was in clear contradiction of very recent decisions made by the same County Commission before his election, giving the impression that any change in electoral composition could invalidate not only the zoning but also undermine confidence in the planning and public input process that allows the community to reach consensus on future goals.<\/p>\n

The REALTORS\u00ae <\/sup>were able to get ahead of this bold re-zoning attempt when the multiple resolutions first entered into the agenda. \u201cThis prompted us to quickly apply for the LUI review,\u201d notes McHale, adding, \u201cRobinson & Cole are so dependable, and returned their comprehensive analysis in a timely manner so that we could create a summary and press release to distribute long before the commission meeting.\u201d \u00a0All of the resolutions were defeated.<\/p>\n

While the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> were prepared to speak at the meeting, their research efforts backed by the Robinson & Cole analysis had already done the work. \u201cEducational discussion with compelling data can be an effective tool beyond debating loud voices of opposition in public forum, especially when your broader goal is to unite leaders in understanding of what\u2019s best for our community. Supporting our elected officials with research is an important service we provide as an organization, and we\u2019re grateful for the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party\u2019s help with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how East Tennessee REALTORS\u00ae <\/sup>is working to protect private property rights, contact Governmental Affairs & Policy Director Maria McHale at maria@etnrealtors.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When an unprecedented and arbitrary attempt to over-rule a recently adopted zoning determination was made by a Knoxville County Council member, the East Tennessee Association of REALTORS\u00ae turned to Robinson & Cole, LLC for expert analysis of the proposal. The law firm, retained by the REALTOR\u00ae Party to review zoning documents for state and local REALTOR\u00ae associations, returned a report that formed the basis of the REALTORS\u00ae\u2019 successful opposition.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,33,296],"tags":[355,501,588],"class_list":["post-21149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-us","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-land-use","tag-land-use-initiative","tag-tennessee"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21149"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21201,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21149\/revisions\/21201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}