Mountain States Health Alliance has given the City of Johnson City an opportunity to save the beech trees at the corner of West Market Street and State of Franklin Road, if the city agrees to MSHA’s conditions.
The city has two options. It can either purchase the 1.5 acres of land on which the beech trees sit for $857,142 or swap 14 acres of land that is of comparable value to it that the city owns in Med-Tech Park.
Hank Carr, real estate consultant with the TCI Group, presented this proposal to the Johnson City City Commission at Thursday night’s meeting.
Carr said that if the city accepts this offer, then all five trees will be saved and the pharmacy will be moved to a more suitable corner on the Johnson City Medical Center campus. The medical center is an MSHA hospital.
He said that the proposal was being made because MSHA understands the strong emotional bond the people have made with these beech trees.
MSHA needs the land to be rezoned in order to allow the property to be developed as in the agreement with the TVA.
The rezoning has been an issue for months because of the concern over cutting down the trees to build a Walgreens on that corner.
The idea met with opposition from both commission members and those in attendance.
“I think it’s a real swell deal for you all,” said Commissioner C.H Charlton.
Dr. Joe Corso, assistant professor of political science at ETSU, attended the meeting to appeal to the commission to pass a resolution that he had previously presented.
He said that there was a great public sympathy for keeping these trees.
Several members of the group ROOTS were also in attendance, with picket signs close at hand. Several members also spoke in objection to the rezoning plan.
Corso strongly opposed MSHA’s proposal. “This looks to me like nothing short of extortion,” he said.
Corso’s resolution was as follows: Resolved: That the Johnson City City Commission will not permit or support the development of the TVA Service Center site at the corner of West Market Street and the State of Franklin Road in any way that will encourage or destroy the five ancient and historic beech trees that currently grace that site.
“There is no real price tag on these trees, no real price tag,” Corso said.
City Commissioner Pete Paduch made the motion to go ahead and vote on the resolution at that night’s meeting.
“I’m going to move that we pass this resolution because it’s the people’s resolution,” he said.
The resolution failed by the vote of 3-2. The commission deferred the entire issue of the trees in order to put consideration into the proposal brought by MSHA.

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