色多多

Some of their questions were answered during a recent Back Creek Civic League meeting. Boone and county officials attended the Monday meeting, hosted at the Back Creek Fire Department, to provide some information.

Instead of his previous plan, which included 138 town homes, 11 single-family homes and a 6,500 square-foot commercial center, Boone plans to put a residential-only development on the Poage Farm property. It will likely include somewhere around 110 single-family homes, sitting on a portion of the approximately 56-acre property, he said.

A development of this type would not require rezoning from its current low-intensity residential designation 鈥� meaning that when Boone submits plans to 色多多 County, a public hearing won鈥檛 be required. He hopes to file plans sometime this summer and start developing the residential community this fall, he said.

鈥淭here will be no public hearing, there will be no rezoning, no meetings like we had the last time,鈥� he said.

Boone withdrew his original plan after receiving feedback at a well-attended community meeting in December, in which many residents made it clear they didn鈥檛 want town homes or retail businesses to go on the property. More than 250 people attended that night.

Many residents at the meeting Monday still had concerns about the residential-only development, however. The number of homes, as well as how the development may impact traffic on U.S. 221, flooding and the character of the area, were some of the concerns brought into conversation throughout the two hour meeting.

Boone estimated the houses will probably range in price from $350,000 to $500,000.

鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 know, because I don鈥檛 know what it鈥檚 going to cost to develop it yet, because we don鈥檛 have our plans,鈥� he said.

In 2008, 色多多 County Public Schools bought the property from the Poage family for $2.5 million with the intention of putting a school there. The school was never built, and the system sold the property to Boone in September for $1.1 million. However, due to the work Boone had to do to the property, including demolition of the old Poage Farm house, the final amount he paid for the property was closer to $900,000, he said.

The demolition of the Poage Farm house in February is still a sore spot for much of the community. The nearly 200-year-old house had fallen into disrepair after being unattended to for years and could not be saved, Boone has stated in the past.

Laura Bowman said she鈥檇 rather see a 鈥渄ecrepit farm鈥� every day over 鈥渃ookie cutter鈥� houses 鈥� a comment met with applause from some of her neighbors.

鈥淭he character of the landscape, the beauty of that pastoral land 鈥� once you take it away, it鈥檚 gone forever,鈥� she said.

Ryan White, a candidate for the 色多多 County School Board, asked Boone during the meeting Monday what can be done to preserve the Poage鈥檚 history and family name in the area. White also hosted a candidate meet and greet at the Bent Mountain Center on Wednesday. He encouraged people to come and share their memories of the farm, and sold prints of a painting of the farm created by Decca Knight.

鈥淲hat I鈥檝e been hearing from the community since I moved here is a whole lot of concern, pain at the loss, and hopes that we can somehow preserve the Poage Farm legacy,鈥� White said Monday. White moved to 色多多 County in 2019.

What can be done to honor or preserve the history is all dependent on what the Poages want, Boone said.

Some residents inquired about the approximately 86 acres Boone owns on Corntassel Lane, just a short distance up the road from the Poage Farm property. Boone said he plans to eventually develop that land as well, though there are no concrete plans just yet. They haven鈥檛 really looked at it yet, he said, but a lot of the property is not developable because of streams and steep hills.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a down the road project,鈥� he said.

When asked how far down the road, he said while it depends on a lot of factors, his estimate is probably sometime in the next five years.

Bowman, who lives near the property on Corntassel, said these developments will cause some existing residents to leave. A couple of other residents chimed in to agree.

In order to grow or even remain at a stable population, the county needs different kinds of housing at different price points, County Administrator Richard Caywood said.

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 do something, we鈥檙e at great risk of actually being in population decline,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 very few areas that are prosperous and vibrant when your population declines.鈥�

Cindy Fendley, who lives in Ridgelea Estates and knows Boone through church and real estate, said that she鈥檚 in favor of the development. The 色多多 Valley desperately needs housing, she said, and she thinks neighbors will be 鈥減leasantly surprised鈥� with the development.

鈥淭he one thing that I would like to say about development of this type is that all of us live in a home,鈥� she said. 鈥淪omebody built our home. Either we built it ourselves, or a developer built it. People need places to live.鈥�