Krebbs Calls Land "Ideal" For Development
A Knoxville land developer says the 1900 acres surrounding the new Flat Creek Reservoir in Huntsville would make an ideal site for a resort development.
And that's exactly what landowner Ernest Billingsley and land developer Lee Krebbs both want, after an agreement between the two was inked last Friday. Krebbs has been given a six-months option to develop a plan and attract an investment group for the property, which could conceivably result in millions of dollars being added to the county's property tax rolls.
But there's a major stumbling block to the plan, which could prevent the development from ever going any further than the drawing board, and permanently remove some prime development property from the property tax base. Huntsville Utility District has filed a condemnation lawsuit which, if successful, would take all the lake front acreage out of the picture - and create a 300-acre "buffer zone" around what will eventually be a 210-acre lake.
That suit is scheduled to be heard in Scott County Circuit Court next Tuesday (Oct. 14).
Krebbs, a former planner with the Barge, Wagoner, Sumner and Cannon firm in Knoxville, who is currently involved in a similar project in the Lenoir City area, says the Flat Creek Lake property "has great potential" for several reasons, the most obvious of which is "that it's all in one tract."
Other pluses for the proposed development, said Krebbs, include the fact that it surrounds a brand new lake, its location is in the Upper Cumberlands, and the availability of all utilities - including sewer.
"That's a big advantage to a tract of property this size in a rural area - the availability of sewer."
And all those pluses coincide with "an influx of early retirees moving from the Midwest to Tennessee," Krebbs added.
Krebbs, who describes himself as a "middle man," said he has already given one potential investor a look at the property in a fly-over. And he says he's currently developing a list of other contacts "who have a good track record" in such developments.
"My job is to put together a land development plan and then make the contacts with investors," said Krebbs.
"I see this property as having tremendous potential to develop into an upscale development that would provide opportunities not only for people in Scott County, but also a number of retirees moving into the state," he said.
He said the influx of retirees from other parts of the country - particularly the Midwest - actually began about 10 years ago, "but has really accelerated in the last five years - people are flocking in en masse."
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