While there was never anything particularly innovative about South Etobicoke’s Stonegate Plaza, the demolition of the 1950s strip mall was ahead of its time.
Every year at this time, leaders from each of the Tri-Cities work together to develop a list of legislative priorities to recommend to local state legislators prior to the start of the next General Assembly. Usually, these priorities are in tune.
But Bristol has proposed joint support of legislation to give industrial development boards statewide the ability to provide incentives for single-family housing developments, a process Kingsport used recently in support of an $18 million residential development at Stonegate Plaza.
But while Sullivan Countyâs cities support it, Johnson City leaders do not.
Johnson City Manager Pete Peterson said Kingsport and Bristol are both energetically supportive of providing incentives for homebuilders because leaders in those communities feel they need an advantage to attract additional residential development. Peterson said Johnson City officials regularly hear that the demand for housing far exceeds the development communityâs capacity t