The Gatlinburg, Tennessee campus known as Arrowmont is the topic of mediation proceedings currently underway between intended developer Bob Bentz and the school’s personnel and supporters.  Attorney Pamela Reeves has been appointed as mediator between the parties, who are in dispute over future plans for the property to be turned into a retail complex.  However, according to disputants, mediation is going smoothly and a settlement should be forthcoming.

Owned by the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women, the campus is part of the Sevier County School system and the county has been paying a lease on the land.  In an agreement with the county, the property owners agreed to swap out land adjacent to the Arrowmont campus to build the Pi Beta Phi Elementary School.  However, Bentz, who is attempting to buy the property, does not want to be a landlord for the school and has requested that the city also drop a requirement stating that a school and an establishment selling liquor have to be 300 feet apart.

Supporters and staff of the school want to keep part of the campus downtown and are attempting to reach an agreement with Bentz and the county that would allow them to do so.  The executive director of Arrowmont, Bill May, has stated that although the school will have to quickly come up with a lot of money to buy the adjacent property, they hope to do so in order to remain in control of their own future.

Bentz, who hopes to build a retail and restaurant complex on the adjacent property, envisions a shopping area with an “arts and crafts feel.”  City Commissioner Mike Werner supports the idea and believes that such an establishment could help return food traffic to that particular area in downtown Gatlinburg.