Agriculture (Photo credit: thegreenpages)
Farmers and Agricultural communities should take note. Bills HB 475 and SB279 restore citizens rights to take vote and protect their property. As part of the original Urban Growth Plan (UGP) introduced in 1998 and lobbied by Tennessee Municipal League (TML) it removed the right of residents to fight annexation through the courts with a jury to a single judge making the final ruling on annexation. The citizen has no rights!
In conjunction, in 2010 an additional study was requested from TACIR to remove Farmers and Agricultural property from the GreenBelt Tax Incentive. This step is a precursor to kicking farmers out of the GreeBelt program to drive up their tax bills and forcing them to sell due to the narrow margins of farms for redevelopment.
You can review the 2009 Study Here.
Right 2 Vote Tennessee 