March 4, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
Regulations have now been established for Tiny Homes under a zoning ordinance amendment which was adopted on second and final reading during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen.
Up until now, the City of Smithville had no “Tiny Home” regulations in a residential zone. One tiny home has already been located on Juniper Lane in an R-1 residential district.
In January, the Smithville Planning Commission voted to send a regulation recommendation to the mayor and aldermen for adoption. It was also suggested by the city’s building inspector.
Under the zoning ordinance amendment, Tiny Homes will be permitted only in the R-2 district as a use permitted and defined as anything 727 square feet or below restricted to only one tiny home per parcel by right. More than one tiny home (per lot) must be subject to mobile home park regulations and submitted with a site plan. Tiny homes will also be subject to the city’s international residential codes including existing setback requirements.
During Monday night’s mayor and aldermen meeting, City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson read the ordinance amendment before the vote.
“Whereas the Smithville Municipal Planning Commission has forwarded its recommendation to the city council regarding the amendment to the zoning ordinance of Smithville. The zoning ordinance is hereby amended, and the following definition shall be added: A Tiny Home is defined as a single-family dwelling that consists of a structure that is less than 727 square feet. Tiny Homes shall be allowed in the R-2 district as a permitted use. If there is more than one Tiny Home on an individual lot then the mobile home park regulations established would apply with a required site plan,” said Hendrixson.
Under the same ordinance amendment, zero lot lines are permitted upon appeal for multi-family residential dwellings in all districts except R-1 (low density residential).
Also included in the ordinance amendment is a provision that requires two off street parking spaces per apartment unit paved with hard surfacing for any future apartment building.
During the public hearing, city property owner Steven Cantrell asked the mayor and aldermen if they had considered other concerns not addressed in the proposed tiny home requirements.
“I have four questions for your consideration before your final vote,” said Cantrell. The proposed amendment defines a Tiny Home as a dwelling that consists of a structure that is less than 727 square feet”.
“First, I was wondering what that really means. For example, Appendix Q, Section AQ lO2 of the Intenational Residential Code states a Tiny House is considered a dwelling that is 400 square feet in floor area or less, excluding lofts,” said Cantrell.
“So, is your 727 feet the ground footprint or total square footage?”
“Second, why is there no minimum square footage identified? For example, l believe Warren County requires a minimum square footage of 138 square feet. Should the city ordinance have a minimum square footage. And if not, why not?”
“Third, are there any restrictions in any other parts of the City’s zoning or should it be here, that addresses minimum occupancy square footage?”
“Knoxville requires 120 square feet for one person occupancy, 320 feet for 2 people occupancy. And the maximum number of occupants cannot exceed three”
“Lastly, are Tiny Homes only going to be allowed in R-2 districts and if so, should that be clarified?”
For example, under Etowah, Tennessee’s ordinance. There is a minimum of 800 square feet in Residential zones and a minimum of 600 square feet in Residential 2 and 3 zones”, said Cantrell
City attorney Vester Parsley responded to Cantrell’s questions.
“We did not consider the number of square feet per person. We took the recommendation of our planning officer (Tommy Lee) and he advised that this was similar to other cities of our size,” said Parsley.
The aldermen did not make any further changes to the amendment based on the points Cantrell raised.
Meanwhile, the aldermen approved Mayor Josh Miller’s recommendation that members be appointed or reappointed to the Smithville Industrial Development Board including Bill Gash and Gina Denman who will serve two-year terms and Tim Stribling, Alan Webb, and Tom Janney who will serve new four-year terms.
During the public comments period at the beginning of the meeting Monday night, Cantrell also spoke out against a contract approved last month between the city and Blue Line Solutions, LLC of Chattanooga to provide camera monitored school zone traffic.
Under the contract already approved and signed by the city, school zones in Smithville will soon be camera monitored to catch motorists exceeding the speed limit.
Last month the aldermen voted to enter into a two-year contract with Blue Line Solutions to install new lights and signage in the school zones at Northside Elementary on Highway 56 north, DCHS/DeKalb Middle School on Highway 70, and at the DeKalb Christian Academy on Highway 56 south. The new radar feedback signs and flashing warning lights on pedestals are expected to be in place and operational by the start of the 2025-26 school year this fall.
Similar to automated license plate readers, Blue Lines’ laser-based LiDAR technology provides precise automated speed enforcement, ensuring that only vehicles violating speed limits are cited. ASETs identify vehicles and capture their speed through the use of a laser beam. The cameras capture the tag number of vehicles traveling over the speed limit in school zones. Violators are then sent a citation in the mail. The penalty is a $50 fine but unlike a ticket issued by law enforcement agencies, the citation is considered a civil infraction and can’t go against a driver’s record or insurance. The city and Blue Line Solutions will split the revenues from payment of fines. The citations may still be challenged in the Smithville Municipal Court.
According to the agreement, there will be no cost to the city except for an initial investment for a traffic study (estimated $15,000) which is to be reimbursed by Blue Line. After the study, Blue Line will install the equipment and recoup its cost over time from the city’s share of fine proceeds.
For the first 30 days of operation, violators will be sent only warning letters. Following that 30-day period citations will be issued to those who have exceeded the 25 miles per hour school zone speed limit by at least 11 miles per hour (36 mph) but only after a review of each case by the Smithville Police Department. No citations will be issued from this system when school is not in session or at other times of the day or night.
Cantrell questioned why the city held no public hearing on this proposal before taking action.
“I was disappointed that the City did not have a Public Hearing for the Speed Camera contract before you approved it with the contractor. For example, clarifying that any revenue generated from the cameras may only be used for traffic safety purposes and cannot be allocated to the general budget—TN State Law, and an issue the State closely monitors,” said Cantrell.
“Since the public was not allowed to ask questions, as I requested to do, my public concerns went unanswered. For example, $40,000 per location (3 locations) for signage which will be paid for from the city’s $25 dollar take. That’s $120,000 divided by $25 which translates into 4,800 paid tickets required for the city to break even”.
“The contract is for 2 years and there are 180 school days per year for a total of 360 ticket days. I won’t break it down further into hours in which a ticket may be issued, but it obviously reduces your window even more, for example the Christian school is posted for a total of 1 hour per day,” Cantrell continued.
“4,800 tickets divided by 360 days = 13.33 tickets per day to break even on the signage cost at the end of two years”.
“Do city/county/state records reflect we are issuing that many tickets a day? And if the cameras do their job and truly reduce speeding then the amount of ticket revenue will be reduced, and the city will owe money at the end of two years,” Cantrell explained.
“Let’s compare an officer issued ticket to an unattended speed camera ticket”.
“The shock of a driver and their driving habits is impacted by an officer issued citation in a school zone on that day—lesson learned immediately (think insurance, drivers record) and other drivers immediately take notice”.
“However, with a speed camera ticket, the owner of the vehicle, not necessarily the driver, gets the ticket in approximately 20 days,” said Cantrell.
“In addition, per TN law, each camera citation shall have printed on it, Non-payment of this [notice or citation] cannot adversely affect your credit score or report, driver license, and/or automobile insurance rate. As a result, some, especially out-of-state and non-county drivers may elect to ignore the tickets. And a speed camera where the local public understands the camera won’t click in until 36 MPH does not promote school safety. However, professional officers do…but then their job is to promote/ensure community safety, not raise revenue, which is what Blue Line Solutions primary purpose is,” said Cantrell.
“As for Blue Line Solutions, I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the company or if the city initiated contact or the company did. However, I am sure the city did a thorough review of the company’s record in Georgia and Louisiana. And compared them to other companies before signing the contract. However, my research on the company and its record, raised questions for this taxpayer”.
“This is why I believe public hearings are important,” said Cantrell.