An Elizabethton church will soon begin the process of building a new place to worship now that plans have been approved by the city’s Planning Commission.
Centerview Church of Christ received unanimous approval from the Elizabethton Planning Commission last night to begin construction on their new church at 441 Hatcher Lane.
The 6,600-square-foot structure will be located by the Hatcher Lane trail head of the Tweetsie Trail on 3.4 acres and will also be near the Elizabethton Electric Department office.
Vice Chair Dena Bass raised concerns about where water would drain in the rare case that the retention pond in the rear corner of the property overflowed.
“It won’t happen very often but it will happen that the retention pond will fill up,” she said.
Jon Hartman, Director of Planning and Development, said that according to the site plan, it appears that it would drain along Stateline Road underneath the Tweetsie Trail to the ditchline.
He said these are typically designed for one-in-10 year flood events. He said most of that water would drain appropriately to the ditch, and that in perhaps a one-in-100 year event, it would divert toward the Tweetsie Trail.
“The impact that you’re going to see from this is likely so minimal because the lot is so big,” said Hartman.
Bass was concerned about future development in the area such as parking.
“The Tweetsie Trail is right there so if you do have an overflow, it will affect that very end portion of it,” she said.
Contractor Danny Street told members the water would drain then where it drains now, at the lowest point of the property.
“We’re not changing the flow of the water,” said Street.
Despite the voiced concerns over water drainage, when the motion came to a vote the plans were approved by all of the commissioners at the meeting. Vickie Manuel, Melanie Futrell Sellers and Secretary Jeff Treadway were absent from the meeting.