KINGSTON, TENN. — The Kingston Planning Commission on Wednesday discussed a proposal to rezone two acres of agricultural land off Cripple Creek Road into an RV campground. The plan would combine two properties to create a park with six to thirteen spaces.
The owner said her intent is for the campground to be used exclusively by Department of Energy and Homeland Security contractors. Commissioners raised concerns that allowing only certain people on the property could be discriminatory.
The property currently has a code violation for having too many RVs on the two parcels of land. Under campground rules, stays would be capped at 29 days. Staff stated that, from a technical aspect, the case does not constitute a spot zone.
Trey Coley, a longtime resident, spoke against the proposal during the meeting, citing road capacity and infrastructure limits. "We just can't handle it in terms of that's a narrow two-lane roadway designed for low volume agriculture and light traffic," Coley said.
He compared potential growth in the area to a more developed community to the east. "Now we're creeping towards like Farragut territory here, and that's just not something I would support personally. If you're considering our lack of infrastructure, we just, it's almost cart before the horse; we don't have the ability to take this on," he said.
The meeting was the subject of a scheduling discrepancy, with the public calendar listing a 6 p.m. start time while the agenda listed 7 p.m. The concern was addressed with a promise to correct and match meeting times for future meetings.