JASPER, Tenn. - Some landowners along Big Fork Road on Suck Creek Mountain want Marion County's help developing an area they consider a "gold mine."
At the May meeting of the Marion County Commission, Susan Skaggs said she represents the residents along the road and wants to present an "opportunity" to the board.
"Ten years ago, knowing the history of Suck Creek Mountain and Big Fork Road, you would not have associated that with community," she said. "Since then, it has become a thriving community."
Skaggs said the road is now dotted with the homes of business owners, retired couples and young families.
"There's a lot of vested interest up there in vacation homes," she said.
Skaggs' family invested $500,000 in a vacation rental home on the mountain four years ago because of what she called "established gains."
"The infrastructure was there for growth," she said. "It wasn't a matter of if we were going to see a return on this investment. It was a matter of when."
In 2003, Tennessee American Water supplied water lines through the area and on to Signal Mountain with the agreement that Marion would come in behind that work and pave Big Fork Road.
"That remains undeveloped," Skaggs said.
County Mayor David Jackson said he met with state and local officials about developing the Big Fork Road area last year.
"We're not going to get any help from [the Tennessee Department of Transportation], so this is something we're going to have to try to do on our own some way or another," he said.
The biggest issue with development in the county typically is water availability, Jackson said.
"It's there," he said. "The road is going to have to have some work done on it."
There are nine developed subdivisions along the road and 69 undeveloped bluff lots.
"You're not reproducing bluff views 20 minutes from downtown Chattanooga," Skaggs said. "That is a gold mine on the table for Marion County."
Jackson said he has recently discussed a potential partnership with officials from Tennessee American Water.
"I think they need to put some money into this [road]," he said. "If they have a line burst, they better have a four-wheel drive backhoe because there's a couple of places [along the road] they're going to have to have it."
Skaggs believes Big Fork Road has "limitless opportunity" right now.
"But timing is everything," she said. "That forward momentum will need support and further infrastructure and further development."
Jackson said opening up the area for development would be great for the county's tax revenue and would help solve some problems with illegal activities occurring there.
"I think it would be a big plus for our county if we could get that road fixed on through there," he said.
When this issue came up years ago, Commissioner Tommy Thompson said some landowners didn't support opening up the route, while others did.
If that's still the case, he said, there could be issues with the county's access to work on the road.
"That's something that we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess," Commission Chairman Gene Hargis said. "We'll work toward everything we can do."
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.