Sacred Heart families, this will be of interest to you as it will impact the area surrounding our beautiful new Cathedral. Council is voting TUESDAY 1/20. Long but interesting.... A rezoning is pending before City Council that would change the character of South Northshore Drive and the entire Bearden community. Most of the Bearden commercial district is zoned C-3 – General Commercial District. An application has been filed to re-zone a part of South Northshore Drive to C-4 – Highway and Arterial Commercial, which allows the heaviest commercial uses, such as mobile home sales, new and used car sales, motorcycle sales, truck and trailer sales and rentals, monument sales, pre-fab house sales, bait shops, boat sales, farm equipment sales, souvenir stands, amusement parks, miniature golf, halfway houses, outdoor storage and sales, billboards and similar uses that are normally restricted to major highways. The rezoning application relates to the property at 204 South Northshore Drive, the parcel just south of the railroad that was formerly occupied by Popes Garden Center. It is owned by Richard Lee Toole and Roger William Toole and leased to Jerry Green, who has the right to sublease the property to anyone for any use without the consent of the property owners. Mr. Green also has the right to cancel the lease at any time on 180 days’ notice. Mr. Green is currently operating a used car sales lot on the property, complete with balloons and price signs in the car windows, in violation of the existing F-1 zoning. He filed an application to rezone the property from F-1 Floodway to C-4 Highway and Arterial Commercial/ F-1 Floodway, which would permit any of the uses described above. On January 6, 2015, City Council approved the application on first reading by a vote of 8 to 1. Mr. Green’s position before City Council was that the F-1 zoning prohibits construction of any new buildings on the property, so the property should be rezoned to a zone that permits outdoor surface uses. The thirteen lots on the east side of Northshore Drive between Kingston Pike and Walden Drive are in a Floodway zone beside Fourth Creek, and the existing buildings have grandfathered commercial use. Most are uses typically found in the C-1 Neighborhood Commercial District, not the C-3 General Commercial District and certainly not the C-4 Highway and Commercial District. Mr. Green is the owner of the transmission business next to this property, and he sold a few used cars as an ancillary part of his transmission business. He has now expanded his business by adding a full blown used car lot on the one acre lot next door owned by the Tooles. His sale of used cars is no longer an ancillary use, and it is not permitted under the existing zoning, but the City has taken no action to shut it down. The MPC staff found the C-4 zone inappropriate for this area of South Northshore Drive under the rezoning requirements of Knoxville’s zoning ordinances. Among the many reasons for recommending denial of C-4, the MPC Staff Report stated: “This section of S. Northshore Drive is not appropriate for C-4 uses. The majority of surrounding zoning is C-3 or F-1. C-4 zoning and uses should be reserved for larger, highway-type, major arterial streets such as Clinton Highway, Kingston Pike, Parkside Drive or Chapman Highway, where sufficient C-4 zoning is already established.” However, the Planning Commission approved a recommendation of C-4 zoning at its meeting on December 11th. Many facts were not properly presented to the Planning Commission and City Council during their meetings on this rezoning, and many facts were not considered. This section of S. Northshore Drive is the roadway that connects Interstate 40/75 to three sections of state designated Scenic Highways: Lyons View Pike, Westland Drive and Northshore Drive. South Northshore also leads to three large churches, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Church of the Ascension and Westminster Presbyterian, and to the Veterans Cemetery, Lakeshore Park, and residential neighborhoods. The commercial area has been limited to neighborhood commercial uses and offices, which buffer the light industrial area of Baum Drive to the west. C-4 zoning will radically change this section of Northshore Drive. Instead of a bank, a bicycle shop, a bakery and a pub, we may have garish used car lots, mobile home sales centers, trailer rentals and miniature golf. Should this rezoning to C-4 pass on second reading, the whole stretch of 13 parcels on the east side on S. Northshore (from Kingston Pike to Walden Drive) could go to C-4 use, which would negatively change the look and character of this street. The MPC staff report says C-4 zoning has historically been reserved for larger, highway-type major arterial streets, like Clinton Highway, Kingston Pike, Parkside Drive and Chapman Highway. It is not appropriate for a road leading to residential neighborhoods and important civic and religious sites. To finalize this change, City Council will vote again on January 20th. If you agree that C-4 zoning should not be instituted along this stretch of S. Northshore Drive, please contact all City Council members as soon as possible at the emails, telephone numbers or addresses below. Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis - First District City View@Riverwalk 445 W. Blount #205 Knoxville, TN 37920 865-454-7216 [email protected] Term ends: December 2017 George C. Wallace - At Large Seat A 7208 Rotherwood Drive Knoxville, TN 37919 865-414-7102 [email protected] Term ends: December 2015 Marshall Stair - At Large Seat B 1325 Armstrong Avenue Knoxville, TN 37917 865-771-9215 [email protected] Term ends: December 2015 Finbarr Saunders - At Large Seat C 102 Herron Drive Knoxville, TN 37919 865-604-2536 [email protected] Term ends: December 2015 Duane Grieve - Second District 3640 Iskagna Drive Knoxville, TN 37919 Home: 865-522-4393 [email protected] Term ends: December 2017 Brenda Palmer - Third District 7816 Ellisville Lane Knoxville, TN 37909 Home: 865-951-1546 [email protected] Term ends: December 2017 Nick Della Volpe - Fourth District 5216 Crestwood Drive Knoxville, TN 37914 Home: 865-525-2880 [email protected] Term ends: December 2017 Mark Campen - Fifth District P.O. Box 27093 Knoxville, TN 37917 865-414-5593 [email protected] Term ends: December 2015 Daniel T. Brown - Sixth District 2318 Dillon Street Knoxville, TN 37915 Home: 865-637-7553 [email protected] Term ends: December 2017 The MPC Staff Report and information in the agenda package provided to City Council is included as a pdf with this email. Nearly all of Kingston Pike through Bearden has less intense commercial zoning of C-3 from Western Plaza to Northshore Drive. If you want to view the zoning that this area currently has, the KGIS Map can be seen at this link: kgis.org/KGISMaps/Map.htm
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:41:13 +0000
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