News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Planning Commission discussed ways Tuesday night to address the flooding issue around the Cane Creek Farm development.
Planning Director Kevin Rush said flooding has become an issue along Buffalo Valley Road near Cookeville as the shoulder stone on the road has not been completed by the developer. Rush said the developer has a $25,000 line of credit with the county to complete the project.
“Of course, you know the way inflation has been the last several years the $25,000 we had to cover the rock and the little bit of work there may not be enough to pay for the fix,” Rush said.
The commission ultimately decided to have a meeting with the developer, engineers, and Putnam County Road Supervisor Randy Jones to further look into options.
The credit renewal date for the developer is November 8th. The Commission could decide to renew it, renegotiate the amount, or close the credit and have the county intervene. Chairman David Mattson said he believes they should still allow the developer to complete the project and renegotiate the credit line to help the developer out.
“It seems like we need to keep the liability and responsibility with the developer and not take on as the county and not take on remediation until we call in this letter of credit,” Mattson said. “But I think we just to make sure that they got a plan that is suitable that everybody is happy with.”
Commissioner Patrick Rinks said when the credit was extended the commission was not aware of the flooding issues the road had.
“When we set the $25,000 it was not enough which they lacked,” Rinks said. “Randy suspected there was a problem. We didn’t recognize a problem until we got some really heavy rains and then it got over the road, so that’s where it came from.”
Commissioner Patrick Rinks said more than likely the commission will have to give more credit to the developer to prevent the county from having to fix the shoulder. Mattson said if the commission decides to call the credit back with the project not completed, it would be detrimental to the developer’s credit.
“It will make their future letter of credit more expensive and increase their bonding rate,” Mattson said. “If they do that through Peoples Bank.”
The next planning commission meeting is November 11th. Rinks said they may have to call a special meeting to address the issue.
In other business, the commission tabled a decision to allow Gilbert Gibbs to create an additional lot within his property on Jackson Passage. The lot would require an easement to access the property on either side of the property. There are mobile homes that access the road using a narrow driveway connected to Jackson Passage.
Rush said he was not comfortable with approving the decision as the commission could not come up with a good and reasonable workaround to implement an easement to the proposed property. Rush said the property owner can propose the preliminary plat again if they can find a viable option to implement an easement
The preliminary plat for Legacy South, a 106-lot subdivision outside Baxter, was pulled from the agenda by the developer.
