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Small lot sizes sunk the attempt to get the Howell Farm off of Howell Road and Veterans Parkway rezoned to a residential designation.

The project was sent to the City Council at their first March meeting and the proposed development was to have 455 homes placed on 147 acres.

It passed the Planning Commission 6-3 and had staff recommendation for approval.

However, it was voted down by Council unanimously.

“The reason I felt like that it needed to be done is I think there’s we have enough small lot housing being built, and when you when you build six houses on an acre of land it’s really not to the best interest of our community,” Councilmember Tommy Pedigo said.

Mayor Gary Chesney agreed.

“My thinking on that is we need to have be a little bit better aware of lot sizes — we’ve had some developments where lot sizes are very small and houses are very small and we’re concerned about the density of the construction,” he said.

Coucilmember Kay Senter concurred.

“I just think that we have enough smaller-lot-housing going up in that area (of Morristown) and that this (new development) would be an opportunity to offer a lot size that would be larger,” she said.

To that end, Council communicated to the developer’s representative at the meeting that if they want to submit a different plan, it would be considered.

The tension between quantity and quality of housing

Small lots were consistently cited as reasons not to approve the rezoning request, but organizations like the Urban Land Institute and American Planning Association champion the idea of small-lot neighborhoods to encourage lower land costs per home, home ownership instead of renting and practical considerations like lower utility supply costs.

One of the problems with the small lots proposed in the plan and shown through developments in other areas, is that even though the lot sizes are smaller, the home sizes remain relatively large.

Small lots with larger homes boost profitability for builders/developers who aren’t frequently incentivized to build more “affordable” housing. Even “smaller” homes are being sold at premium prices due to demand.

The national builder neighborhood just to the west of the Howell Farm, built at a similar scale, shows how difficult the proposition is for an affordable housing development. Homes start at 1600 sq. ft. and $310,990 according to the Millstone Village website.

“I don’t think what we’ve got right now is really entry-level, it may be size-wise, but price-wise it’s not,” Senter observed.

With a household median income in Hamblen County of $49,656, according to a 2024 state report pulling from Census data, an affordable monthly housing cost (30% of income) is around $1,240. This cost should include things like taxes and insurance

According to Zillow, the median home price in Hamblen County home price is $266,478. After assuming a 20% down payment, wIth estimated taxes, home insurance and a 30-year mortgage loan rate around 6% (a national average right now), the estimated monthly payment is just over $1600.

Variables vary greatly, but many people are spending significantly more than the 30%-of-income mark used by Federal agencies as the line between affordable and not.

There are a few things communities are attempting to do to increase affordable housing such as build more housing (increase supply), subsidize housing costs and reform local zoning laws/rules.

Zones that allow for higher density can encourage more housing such as townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, etc… and provide more options for home dwellers.

More multi-family developments could reduce rent pressures and have positive downstream effects on single home prices.

While council members emphasized the need for housing in Morristown, they said their decision to reject the proposed neighborhood reflected a desire to shape how growth happens, favoring developments with larger lots rather than the higher-density subdivisions that have become more common in recent years.