After posting a community survey last month gauging Villagers’ preferences in downsizing options, in which nearly 1,000 residents responded, the Tellico Village HomeOwners Association held a lifestyle forum last week to review the results and give four builders the opportunity to discuss their plans for properties in the community.
About 550 Villagers packed into the Community Church at Tellico Village to get the survey results and hear from representatives with Mashburn Home Builder LLC, Jamison Custom Homes, Five Star Senior Living and Pinnacle Group. The forum was followed by a question and answer session.
“The forum and the question and answer turned into a town hall meeting, and it was wonderful,” Bill Taylor, president of the HOA, said. “We got lots of good people in there giving some good thoughts and some pros and cons on a number of subjects that, while they’re related to what we presented, are just not what we were expecting to hear and it was great.”
According to the survey, 62 percent of respondents said they were looking to move out of their home and downsize. Of that amount, 76 percent said they wished to move out within about 10 years, and 31 percent said they would move out within five years. Seventy-one percent also said they preferred buying versus renting.
Rick Carlin, vice president of programs for the HOA, said the four builders had a say in the questions asked in the survey to better gauge Villagers’ interests on downsizing.
“We tallied the results of the survey, did some summation, shared them with the four presenters yesterday and said, ‘OK, the Tellico Village residents have spoken. So, your job now is to take what they have said and put it together with your plans and you each have 15 minutes to present your PowerPoint presentation or displays or whatever it is you want to do in response to the housing needs that the Village residents expressed through the survey’,” Carlin said.
Seeking smaller homes
Each of the builders had an opportunity to detail their plans, with two of the four projects being in the early stages of development.
John Tuck, with the Pinnacle Group, displayed a six-story, 100-unit condominium that could be placed at the corner of Highway 444 and Davis Ferry Road. Tuck said the plan was still in its early stages and would be subject to change based on approval from the Architectural Control Committee.
“It’s something we’ve heard for years that was needed and wanted out in the Village,” Tuck said. “It is something at this stage we believe we will do. We plan to do something with the property, but I think the highest and best use is going to be multifamily housing and some light commercial.”
Mike Jamison, with Jamison Custom Homes, presented concepts of a track of land at Chatuga Drive across from The Neighborhood at Tellico Village that had homes ranging in sizes from 900 square feet to 1,700 square feet, and showed bungalow courtyards without garages and cottages with garages.
“It gave us insight that most of the people are looking — 75 percent of the people — are looking for something between 1,000 square feet to 2,000 square feet, with half of those looking (at) under 1,500 square feet (home),” Jamison said. “Also, most people are looking for either condominiums or small single-family homes.”
The Neighborhood at Tellico Village representative Marti Hands and Five Star Senior Living representative Hank Miller each gave an update on the projects at the center.
Hands presented updates on the assisted living and memory care portion of the project. Work on the assisted living portion will include 23 new studio and one-bedroom apartments, all on the same level. Other additions will include an expanded dining room, wellness center, a bistro with indoor seating, new outdoor seating areas, a new multipurpose room and an update to the current activities room.
Plans are to double the size of the memory care unit by constructing six new companion suites and two private suites for a total of 16 memory care suites. The memory care expansion will allow the center to care for 28 residents, Hands said.
Miller updated Villagers on the independent living portion of the project. “Geotechnical issues” briefly halted planning for the independent living building, but Miller said work is now on track.
“Just to give you a brief overview, it’s going to be a three-story building. It’s going to have 100 units,” Miller said during the forum. “The unit breakdown’s going to be somewhere around a few studios but most one- and two-bedroom apartments with the standard amenities package that you would find for that type of building.”
Lindsay Oaks, a representative with Mashburn Home Builder, detailed plans to construct downsized housing on Cheeyo Place. Three spec homes are currently being constructed, one at 1,500 square feet and the other two at 1,700 square feet. In total, 18 lots are available for housing in the area.
Carlin said a “relatively brief” follow-up survey should be next in line to see where Villagers stand on the presentations discussed at the forum.
A date hasn’t been set for another meeting, but Carlin said he believes another public event would be held in the future to continue housing discussions.
He said he also expects the HOA will research the ownership along the parkway, much of which is zoned commercial, to inform residents about who owns the properties, what they are zoned for and what owners can construct on the pieces of property.
“I think that at the end of the day the more information that residents have, the more hard data that they have ... then the conversations that we all have can be more meaningful,” Carlin said.
