Welcome to Town Hall East

Knox County Commissioners voted 18-1 to provide the funds to purchase the LDS building at 4326 Asheville Hwy. Our goal is to support the clean up of this 17 year plus eyesore that is not representative of our neighborhood. The dream is a wonderful 'Pocket Park' with soft green grass, shade trees, and a bench to read a good book.

Welcome to the Town Hall East (T.H.E.) web site. A group of East Knoxville residents organized T.H.E. in the early 1960s as a forum to discuss community issues and positively influence the future of our neighborhood. Forty-six years later, T.H.E. is still going strong. While our members hail from Holston Hills, Chilhowee Hills, and other surrounding neighborhoods, we are interested in the betterment of all East Knoxville.

2007-2008 T.H.E. Meeting Schedule

T.H.E. Membership Meetings are 5 times a year. All meetings, unless otherwise noted, are held in the Fellowship Hall of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, 4904 Asheville Hwy., at 7:00 PM, on the 2nd Monday of September, November, January, March, and May.

Calendar of Events:

May 14, 2007	T.H.E. Membership Meeting - Current Officers and BOD term extended to Dec 31
July 4, 2007	Happy Independence Day
July 9, 2007	New Nominating Committee Meeting - Chairman, Pat Donaldson (865)595-4628
July 23, 2007	Knox County Commission Meeting 2-4 - Appropriations to purchase the LDS building on agenda
August 10, 2007	Nominations for Officers and BOD deadline
August 14,2007	MAYOR RAGSDALE TO VISIT NEIGHBORHOOD (Library 5:30 - 7:00)
August 20, 2007	Watch for latest THE newsletter
August 20, 2007	BOD meeting, 6-7:30p, Burlington Library Meeting Room
August 27, 2007	Knox County Commission Meeting 2-4 - Appropriations to purchase the Lariet Lounge building on agenda. Please Attend this Public Meeting 400 Main, City County Bldg, Downtown Knoxville
September 10, 2008	Membership Meeting and Annual Dues Renewal

Recent Events and Projects

Ribbon Cutting at Chilhowee Drive Sidewalk Project

Mayor Bill Haslam presided over a ribbon cutting celebration for the city's Chilhowee Drive Sidewalk Project Tuesday near the entrance to Holston Middle School. Joining the mayor in cutting the ribbon were City Councilman Mark Brown, Town Hall East President Sharon Davis, Holston Middle School Principal Tom Brown and several members of the school's Beta Club.

¨ Town Hall East, Inc. has just completed a very successful Fundraiser to benefit the new Burlington Branch Library with audio/visual equipment, Chairman Nick DellaVolpe (ndellavople@wmspc.com).

We wish to especially thank the folks on the attached list for their Contributions!

¨ THE welcomed State Representative Joe Armstrong, who spoke at the November 2006 meeting.

¨ On October 12, 2006, Mayor Haslam walked the neighborhood, and on October 17, Mayor Ragsdale cut the ribbon for the opening ceremony for the New Burlington Branch Library.

¨ The Community Picnic was a big success! Big Thanks to Chairmen, Tammy White and Shirley Nash-Pitts and all the hard-working volunteers who helped make this event happen!

¨ Holding a Community Picnic at Eastminster Presbyterian on Saturday, May 13 2006.

¨ Facilitating relocation of the Burlington Branch Library to a more central location

¨ Working for creation of the Holston River Park and associated greenway trails

¨ Organizing the reclamation of Holston Middle School’s front yard by replacing chain link, barbed wire, and cracked asphalt with green grass, trees, a walking trail, and charming gazebo

¨ Planting of nearly 100 magnolia trees along Magnolia Avenue to restore the beauty of our main East Knoxville street

¨ Supported the Trinity Hills Center and participated in the June 2005 ceremonies at 4615 Asheville Hwy

¨ T.H.E. volunteers, together with other neighborhood's reps, helped plan, flag and do the initial clearing for Loves Creek Greenway segment that will run along the creek from Spring Place Park to Walmart parking area. This is a 1 1/4 mile segment of the overall EastKnox trail. T.H.E. is also working with Walmart to incorporate greenway trail into their expansion project, as they widen a relocate a segment of Loves Creek near their facility.

We meet five times per year and have recently hosted forums with Mayoral and City Council candidates, State Representatives, Schools Superintendent, Police Chief and others. We offer a means for community residents to become actively involved in improving and strengthening their neighborhood.

Current Working Projects include:

May 2007 - Neighborhood Successful in New Zoning Ordinance - President Sharon Davis thanks MPC Executive Director Donaldson for his interest, direction, and assistance toward establishing the new R1-EN zoning. Town Hall East, Inc. is pleased to have been the 'poster child' and to have led the way for other neighborhoods with our successful efforts of re-zoning Holston Hills and Chilhowee Hills. For years community leaders have searched for methods to protect the rich character of our neighborhood without having the tools to reach the goal. The R1-EN zoning satisfies that goal by protecting property values with new lot sizes, building codes and set back regulations.

¨ Proposed New Subdivision Restrictions Supported by Town Hall East, Inc. as Presented by Mark Donaldson

¨ Protecting Community Property Values with Restrictions - The largest investment many of us make is the investment in our homes. The Property Values in today's 'subdivisions' are protected with 'restrictions' and are set in force when the subdivision is developed. These restrictions are conveyed with the deed, remaining in effect when purchasing or selling the property, and protect Property Values in the subdivision.

Holston Hills and Chilhowee Hills were developed with minor restrictions. Until a few years ago, the City of Knoxville codes and regulations prohibited doublewide manufactured homes within the City of Knoxville. Regulations are currently left up to individual developers and property owners. Neighbor by neighbor, property by property, property owners of Holston Hills and Chilhowee Hills are looking for legal and fair methods to maintain the charm and value of their beautiful neighborhoods. Currently City Codes do not give the neighborhoods the tools they need to achieve what they want. Other avenues, like seeking modifications to the City Codes is currently being proposed. Your questions and comments may be sent to townhalleast@att.net. Thank you! Come join this effort, NOW!

¨ Building Healthy Communities: We joined other key stake holders from development, business, health, neighborhood, and government sectors of our community for the first in a series of other workshops and events aimed at fostering development practices to benefit the economic, community, and environmental health of our region. President, Sharon Davis accepted an invitation to participate on Friday, April 28, 2006, at the downtown Hilton Knoxville as we take steps toward Building Healthy Communities. The April 28 workshop focused on pedestrian-related development issues that would result in Neighborhood grocery stores, medical facilities, libraries, schools, etc.; that even the young and old could easily access by foot or bike or wheelchair. It enriches neighborhoods and individual health, for starters. What a wonderful concept!

¨ Greenways. We have an outstanding start to our greenway system in Holston River Park and Holston Middle School. Our dream is to have an interconnected greenway system that wends along the river front and connects to Volunteer Landing while also leading along Love’s Creek to Knoxville Center. This will be a real boon to walkers, runners, and bikers. Contact Nick Della Volpe to help.

This is YOUR neighborhood … be a positive force for our future by joining T.H.E. and volunteering today!

Site Content

We hope that you find this site useful and informative every time you visit. By following the navigational links on the sidebar or footer, you can easily visit the other pages in this site.

Home - Contains introduction to T.H.E. . Current and relevant news will also be presented here.

Area Information - Contains historical overview of T.H.E. neighborhoods, as well as information on area homes, businesses, schools, churches, parks, and recreational facilities.

This site is designed to be viewed on any browser. If you have any concerns and questions about site performance and content, please contact the webmaster. Happy surfing!