City manager: Growth keeps Maryville prosperous

By Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff

Maryville City Manager Greg McClain is not an isolationist who thinks Maryville and Blount County should put up a stop sign on growth.

Historically, the populations of Maryville and Blount County grow at 1.7 percent a year. From 1990 to 2005, Maryville grew from 19,208 to 25,851, while Blount County increased from 85,969 to 115,535 residents.

"That's healthy. It allows us to anticipate what utilities and infrastructure will be needed," he said in a speech to the Government Council of the Blount Chamber of Commerce Monday.

"Our job is to build the infrastructure and bring the people into the core (cities and urban growth boundaries) if we are to retain the rural nature of the county," McClain said.

"For its 213 years, the city of Maryville has always been a very progressive town," he said.

Maryville was established July 11, 1795, as the county seat of Blount. The county was named after Territorial Governor William Blount and Maryville after his wife, Mary Blount.

Currently a baby is born every eight seconds in the U.S. and a death is recorded every 11 seconds. McClain predicted with the Baby Boomers aging, those figures will reverse themselves.

In the future the populations of U.S. and Europe will flatten out and the population growth will occur in the undeveloped countries of the world, he said.

McClain is not opposed to immigration.

"Before it's over we will be competing to get immigrants here. The percentage of foreign-born people in the U.S. is going to grow," he said.

Currently Tennessee has a population of 5,962,959, the 17th largest state in the union.

Blount County is the 10th largest of the 95 counties. Maryville is the 24th largest city out of 348 in the state and the 52nd fastest-growing of those cities.

Dense population

In its 16 square miles, Maryville has a population density of 1,616 per mile, making it denser than Knoxville and Chattanooga.

"With fuel and energy costing more, people may want to move to the cities to be closer to their jobs," McClain said.

He said the way to keep Maryville and Blount County progressive is to maintain that moderate growth.

"I grew up here. I love the fact that my son graduated here, works here and built a house here," he said.

McClain said Athens is an example of a town that has remained stagnant, maintaining a 15,000 population for years. "When people graduate they get out of there because there are no jobs," he said.

"The majority of us want to preserve the rural landscape of Blount County. It's an incredible asset. It's what brings people here. The mountains are our greatest asset," McClain said.

Twenty-six percent of Blount County is a land mass that is in total preservation - it is Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With over nine million visitors a year, it is the most visited of the national parks.

That does not include land protected by the Foothills Land Conservancy and others.

Because of the assets, "people will come. We want to have the needed services available." he said,

The idea is to try to attract citizens and move them inside the cities and urban growth boundaries to preserve the rural aspect of the county.

McClain also said quality of life issues all have to be balanced - with no emphasis on only one aspect. The qualities are jobs, commercial business, retail business, industry, not-for-profits, housing, workforce, property taxes, sales taxes, utility rates, recreation, cultural arts, public safety, public utilities, public works and education.

"We don't have options as a city to put on blinders and focus on one thing. Everything has to be balanced or you'll wreck it," McClain said.

Regarding salaries, Tennessee is above average in the nation and people in Blount and Maryville make a little more than the average and keep a little more due to the cost of living.

He knows how to reverse the progressive history of the town.

"Raise taxes, lower education and dig up the parks. They'll quit coming," he said.