New Planning Commission chair
Long-standing Planning Commission Chair Wayne Williams stepped down at the April 7 meeting after over seven years of service. Vice Chair Cheryl Graham was elected as the new chair.Graham has been a mainstay of Signal Mountain politics dating back to the 1980s when she was a town commissioner. Previous to her time on the Planning Commission, she was on the town’s Design and Review Committee.She said there aren’t any big changes in the pipeline now that she’s chair, but the commission will be looking into cleaning up the zoning and subdivision regulations for the town.
Tasked with determining what capacity, if any, the town of Signal Mountain’s government has to limit or regulate the amount of land development going on within its city limits at the same time, Town Attorney Phil Noblett has found the answer: None.
Planning commissioners and members of the Town Council had asked Noblett to look into the issue in response to concern expressed by citizens in recent months that should the available land in Signal Mountain be developed rapidly, it could over-stress the services the town has to provide.
“There were fears of growth and the issues it can cause for the town,” said Planning Commission Chair Cheryl Graham. “From Phil’s findings, though, we didn’t find any reason to go further.”
At a Planning Commission meeting on April 7, officials discussed how the status of the housing market in Signal Mountain effectively prevents over-development of the town.