McFee Road land Purchase - How I learned there was a sinkhole

Sinkholes are as natural to our landscape as our ridges, our valleys and streams. Given that East Tennessee has karst geology, it should surprise no one that there is a possible sinkhole located on the land the Town is considering purchasing. Sinkholes are the most common karst land feature and are prevalent across East Tennessee.  

Many subdivisions in the Town have sinkholes.  Bridgemore has 11 sinkholes. Bridgemore has some of the most expensive homes in Farragut.  The Cottages at Pryce Farm has a 2.4 acre sinkhole. There's a few sinkholes in Meadows on McFee and the Grove at Boyd Station, as well. 

The presence of one sinkhole on a 70 acre property does not devalue the property nor does it make the property undevelopable.  Our sinkhole ordinance protects sinkholes and our Open Space Residential Overlay zoning districts specifically allow for flexibility to accommodate sinkholes without materially impacting the ability to construct a low density residential subdivision.  

There was no cover up, the existence of a sinkhole is commonplace, expected. Protect it and design around it, as our ordinances allow for. The Letter of Intent was approved so the Town could begin its due diligence regarding the land including the depression.

Here's an article regarding karst geology in East Tennessee. 

Karst Geology in East Tennessee

There are two ways to learn about the topography of the land being considered for purchase both of which are available at KGIS.org which is a publicly available website.

I learned about the depression on the McFee Road property being considered for purchase by the Town when Knox County Schools was considering purchasing the property in 2022.  

The plat is a publicly available document on KGIS.org.  The original plat was filed in August 2022, and subsequently amended in November 2022. (How to navigate KGIS.org to find the plat is listed below)





The plat states that there is a sinkhole.




But the plat notes do not refer to any geotechnical report that verifies that this is a sinkhole.




Historical aerials show that the depression in the topography could be an old farm pond.  We won't have a definitive understanding of what the depression is until a geotechnical analysis is completed. 

Another way to learn about the topograhy of the property is to click on the topography feature on the KGIS website.  This shows both the depression and the ravine and the general rolling nature of the land in this area.




Just because I've done research and explored and searched through publicly available documents and my fellow elected official has not, does not mean something underhanded happened.


For those unfamiliar with KGIS.org, it is Knox County's Geographic Information System.  It is a wealth of information. To find the plat above, go to the home page of KGIS (www.KGIS.org), click on KGIS MAPS; Zoom in to the property in question; click on Parcel Identify (the litte hand), Click on the subject property, click on Owner Card Report in the small box, Click on the Plat link which reveals the plat.








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