Washington County delays Harmony property sale among community backlash

Editorial Note: This story published on Friday, June 4 states Anne Cooper is the Executive Director of the Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness. Cooper is also a member of the Harmony Community Ruritan. Washington County's county owned property committee has delayed its decision on a bid until June 9 for its property on Painter Road at its Thursday meeting. A resolution declaring 3.03 acres of the Painter Road property as surplus was approved by the full commission on Feb. 9. The commission's approval to auction the property was restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofits who are chartered to "construct or to restore residential dwellings for the purpose of creating affordable and habitable housing for the disadvantaged and needy." Harmony community members began raising concerns to officials on the county's plans to sell in April after a resident noticed survey markers around what is known as the old Harmony School. The property was previously leased to the Harmony Ruritan Club, later known as the Harmony Community Club, which has been inactive since 1983 until recently when community members revitalized the club with 60 members. An online auction was held on May 28 where the county received a sole bid from Holston Habitat for Humanity for $50,750. Laura Kelly, executive director for the nonprofit, spoke during the public comment period where she explained to officials the plans for the property and emphasized on the need for more affordable housing within the county. Kelly said if the bid is accepted, the organization plans to follow the zoning guidelines made in the resolution and keeping it zoned as A1. The zoning of the property would only allow for four parcels to be built on the 3.03 acres. She said the families Holston Habitat for Humanity serves are working class residents and are heavily vetted by the organization before application approval for a home. "[With] the increase of home prices locally there's just a tremendous demand for starter homes," she said. "We have distributed already over 400 applications in our current housing cycle where we only have 11 spots, so we know that our local community is hungry for an opportunity to become homeowners." Many Harmony community members were present at the meeting and spoke during public comment proposing officials reject the bid made by Holston Habitat for Humanity. Some individuals also requested officials pull out of its plans to build a volunteer fire department at the remaining acreage on the property, which was not included in the auction and is still owned by Washington County. "We believe that there's better alternatives that include utilizing existing county owned housing stock within this region that are already near needed services and resources," Bill Masoner, Harmony Community Ruritan president, said. "We also recommend considering other county owned sites for emergency response for the existing fire emergency facility already established in the Harmony area do serve the community needs currently." Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy and Washington County Commissioner Richard Tucker met with community members in Harmony on Tuesday, May 26 to discuss the property. Both Grandy and Tucker said they felt the meeting was beneficial for community members and helped clear up some confusion residents have raised. Tucker said during the meeting, he told community members he hopes to create a better process to advertise the sale of future county owned properties. Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness' Executive Director and member of the Harmony Community Ruritan, Anne Cooper, submitted a five-page proposal to Grandy on May 12 where she requests the property be leased to the Harmony Community Ruritan for three years at an annual rate of $1. Through a public records request, the Johnson City Press obtained a copy of the proposal. Two issues are identified in the proposal —the sale of the 3.03 acres to build single-family homes and the county's decision to house a volunteer fire department on the other portion of the property which is not being sold. The proposal contains various assessments as to why the property should not be sold to build affordable housing including, but not limited to, decreased property values, environmental concerns and resources. Concerning the building of a fire department, Cooper states decreasing property value, noise nuisances, safety hazards and more are all issues raised by her and community members. The Johnson City Press did reach out to the Fall Branch Volunteer Fire Department but did not receive a response by press time. Officials asked the Harmony community to come back to the committee's June 9 meeting with more information on the Harmony Community Ruritan's proposal. If the committee denies the existing bid and decides to let the ruritan club bid on the property, a resolution will have to be passed by the full commission which would exempt the restrictions allowing anyone to bid. "We would love to work something out, but we have to follow the process," Washington County Commissioner and chair of the committee David Tomita said.