By Bill Grubb
News Editor

ROGERSVILLE - Countering the negative effects of pollution, safeguarding property values and enhancing the town's appearance - those are some of the possible benefits of a proposed landscape ordinance being considered by the Rogersville Planning Commission.
    Planners received a copy of the ordinance Tuesday and will begin reviewing the document at the August meeting.
    The regulations would not apply to individual residential properties but would, if ultimately adopted by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, require a landscape plan to be included with the site plan for multi-family residential developments, public or semi-public uses or commercial developments.
    State planner Charles Alley told commission members the proposed ordinance contains features of similar ordinances in the area.
    "This is much like Elizabethton's, or the ordinances for Bluff City and Mountain City," Alley said. "I looked at different ordinances and some, like Jonesborough's, were very complex.  They have an urban forester who takes care of their landscape ordinance.  I don't think Rogersville wants to hire an urban forester."
    The Rogersville ordinance would become part of the town's zoning regulations, with the building inspector responsible for enforcement.
    The planner said the proposed ordinance would establish specific guidelines for developers regarding the location and types of plants that must be used, with the standards based on the difference in the neighboring use and the proposed use.
     "If you have a commercial development next to another commercial development there is minimal impact.  If you are dealing with a commercial development and a neighboring residential district, that is where the landscaping ordinance will make a difference," Alley said.
    The proposal would require landscaping for parking areas and would encourage developers to preserve existing trees and plants. The ordinance would also require landscaping along any public road, if the development has at least 50 feet of frontage.         "This is definitely something we need," Building Inspector Steve Nelson said, noting concerns some citizens raised over the lack of landscaping and overall appearance of a car wash on East Main Street near the eastern edge of the town's historic district.
    "People were asking me 'What can we do about it?' and the answer was not a thing," Nelson said.
    In other business, the commission also gave Nelson permission to approve a certificate of occupancy for a fifth residence in a Planned Unit development on Reno Street although a road serving the project has not been completed.
    Developer Roger Stewart noted the road will be completed as he completes work on the project but he would like to be able to sell the first five units in the complex.
    "I would like to get my money out of these five so I can keep on working," Stewart said.
    Nelson said the unfinished road provides access to all the finished structures.
    "It (the road) goes past the driveway so there is access.  I just wanted to make sure the planning commission said it was ok to give a certificate of occupancy since the road work isn't finished yet," Nelson said.
    Nelson also said City Attorney Bill Phillips was advised of the situation and "doesn't see a problem" with issuing the certificate.