Meeting Recap: March 21-24, 2018

Please increase opportunities to allow multi-family housing to be developed in Knoxville.

Thanks for speaking with me at the Saturday Recode community meeting. As per your request I am sending you an email regarding my questions and points. I indicated to you I had read the entire draft ordinance and generally liked it, but did not think any one zone encompassed the full amount of current uses and desirable future uses in some of the current central city sector plan zones, specifically I am talking about some of the MU-SD districts that currently have a mix of what would be considered RN-4 to RN-6, O Office, and C-N Neighborhood Commercial uses under the new ordinance. I indicated I thought it was desirable for the city and the property owners for this to continue. I like the idea of fostering small neighborhood markets or cafés which makes the neighborhood nicer and gives the residents the ability to walk to some small scale basic retail services. I suggested a simple solution would be to make some of those MU-SD districts RN-6/C-N neighborhood commercial, for example, as it would cover the existing uses and control future growth according to the design standards in the new ordinance. You would not need to change anything regarding the proposed table 9-1: USE MATRIX as in my theoretical district you would look down the RN-6 column and C-N column and those are the permissible uses, of course you would need to meet all of the design requirements for the use you wanted. I chose C-N because according to the Matrix everything allowed in O Office is allowed in C-N so those current and future uses are covered. As I have consistently stated I like the idea of redoing the zoning ordinance code to make it more simple and clear and don't mind design standards but do not support decreasing my current property uses or future uses that I am allowed under the current zoning ordinance, I don't think that is good for me or the City as it looks to the future.We also discussed Table 4-1 and that RN-4 had a minimum lot width of 50 feet but RN-5 and RN-6 had a minimum lot width of 60 feet. Perhaps it is a typo, but in any event, I stated they should all be 50 feet. Additionally, we discussed section 4.3 that requires multi family housing in RN-4 zones to be on only corner lots. Knoxville already has successful examples of where multi family dwellings are in the middle of a block amongst single and 2 family dwellings and are less obtrusive overall for the block then a corner location. Knoxville will benefit from fostering a heterogeneous mix of dwelling units ranging from single family to multi family within these MU-SD districts, which I recognize each has different characteristics and will require different variations. These varied housing types will attract and provide housing to a wide socio-economic range of people, plus the density will help support C-N businesses. Having traveled to other cities these types of neighborhoods are dynamic, very attractive, and walkable. Having design standards, as the new ordinance does, will make these varied uses fit together in an aesthetically pleasing manner.Thank you and the planning group for your consideration of my prospective. I look forward to any feedback you and the group can give me.

I am definitely in favor of the recode as one much needed measure to address the crisis in affordable housing.

I would like to write in favor of ADUs being allowed in the Recode plan. They can provide alternatives to affordable housing, which we so desperately need in Knoxville.

Attached please find comments from the Knoxville Chapter of NAACP on the 1st draft of Recode. Amy Brooks informed us that we could submit our comments by the end of this week for consideration before the 2nd draft. If you have trouble opening the attachment, please let me know. Thank you so much for your consideration. Sincerely,LaKenya MiddlebrookNAACP, Knoxville BranchHousing Committee