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Surgoinsville board hears proposal to lower minimum livable floor area to 800 square feet
Summary
The Town of Surgoinsville held a public hearing Feb. 17 on Ordinance No. 193-2026, which would amend the zoning code to reduce the minimum livable floor area for dwellings from 1,200 to 800 square feet to allow smaller or "tiny" homes. A resident objected on property-rights grounds; town counsel and planning staff said the change would expand affordable-housing options. No vote was taken at the hearing.
The Town of Surgoinsville Board of Mayor and Aldermen held a public hearing on Feb. 17 on Ordinance No. 193-2026, a proposed change to Title 14 of the municipal code to establish a minimum livable floor area for dwelling units and to lower the town’s current requirement.
Resident Joshua Googe, who identified his address as 238 Dogwood Drive, asked whether the requirement would apply equally to private homeowners and to developers and said he opposed setting a minimum, telling the board, "it isn't fair to place a minimum" and that "it feels like you are taking freedom away from landowners." Attorney Joe May responded that subdivision requirements were referenced and said the ordinance is intended to allow smaller dwellings — often described as "tiny homes" — to be developed, saying, "this is so smaller homes, often referred to as tiny homes, can be developed."
Police Chief Hammonds, who served as secretary of the Planning Commission during the hearing, clarified that the town currently enforces a 1,200-square-foot minimum livable area and that Ordinance No. 193-2026 would lower that threshold to 800 square feet, which staff said could accommodate a two-bedroom, one-bath unit. Alderman Collier said the change was proposed in part to help expand affordable-housing options in Surgoinsville.
Mayor Merrell Graham closed the hearing at 6:48 p.m. The minutes record questions from residents and responses from town counsel and staff but do not record a vote or formal action on the ordinance during the hearing. The town recorder attested to the minutes; next procedural steps or a council vote are not specified in the hearing record.
