Public Feedback

I own the building at 908 Tyson Street and note the zoning code is CG2. What does that mean? I couldn't find an explanation anywhere for the codes.

Recently I communicated with you about the zoning on the west side of Sherrod Road, north of Mimosa. I need to make some corrections. The east side of Sherrod Road is zoned R-3. The five feet on the west side of should be zoned R-2. I quote from a rezoning ordinance passed by the Knoxville City Council at a meeting on July 6, 1985 entitled "An Ordinance to rezone property of Kern's Inc from R-2 . . .to I-3, east of Chapman Highway, west side of Sherrod Street . . . - MPC approved I-3 General Industrial District with a 5' buffer strip at eastern portion to property (west of Sherrod St) to be eft in the R-2, General Residential District) (11-3) (5-U-82-RZ).

We are at 8701 Unicorn Dr. Right now we are zoned commercial. The current proposal has us going to mixed use. Will that make the taxes for this property go up?

Currently own a newly built, 2015, single family home at 6012 Blossom Rd. Zoned as Low Density residential. New Zoning turns it into Hillside & ridgetop protection. How do I get that changed to Low density residential once again?

As a new condo unit owner in the Southside Waterfront Neighborhood, I would like to express my interest in the Recode Knox project.  Gerald was a speaker today at the TNSA Development Symposium conference.  Very interesting.   With regards to the form-based codes I offer the following basic concerns from an owner's perspective and fellow planner:

• 1. Form Based Codes - are they clear and predictable for the developer and landowner to understand what is and is not permitted?  Are they easy and flexible to developer while still maintaining basic zoning principles?
• 2. How will the SW4 zoning district change or will it remain the same?
• 3. How is homeowner/unit owner parking determined, guest parking, overflow parking on site and on street determined?  I ask because CityView has a parking problem.  The side streets are technically owned by the city and thus not our designated overflow parking areas controlled by HOA.  West Blount Avenue is also crowded.  If the undeveloped parcels on either side are developed then we will really have an issue, especially during football season.  Again, there is no guest parking on site.  When the riverwalk is completed and more used by the public, will there be a parking area or trailhead with parking for the public or will they also use the side streets currently used by CityView?  
• 4. Sidewalks are fantastic, and we thank you.  However, still a need for at least 2 on site spaces per unit plus guest parking.  
• Thank you for all that the city is doing to reinvest in South Knox and riverfront areas.  It is becoming more walkable, connected, safer and revitalized - one project at a time.

On March 25, 2019 I sent you the following.  I am resending it to make sure that you received it.

Recently I communicated with you about the zoning on the west side of Sherrod Road, north of Mimosa. I need to make some corrections. The east side of Sherrod Road is zoned R-3. The five feet on the west side of should be zoned R-2. I quote from a rezoning ordinance passed by the Knoxville City Council at a meeting on July 6, 1985 entitled "An Ordinance to rezone property of Kern's Inc from R-2 . . .to I-3, east of Chapman Highway, west side of Sherrod Street . . . - MPC approved I-3 General Industrial District with a 5' buffer strip at eastern portion to property (west of Sherrod St) to be eft in the R-2, General Residential District) (11-3) (5-U-82-RZ). 

Below is my original posting on March 6, 2019

There is a five-foot buffer strip on the west side of Sherrod Road, south of Mimosa that was left in the R-2 zoning when the eastern portion of the Kerns property was rezoned in 1982. The current zoning map very clearly shows that the R-2 zoning extends to the west side of Sherrod Road. The recode map does not show this. This was done at City Council, July 6, 1982. This was done to prevent increased traffic on Sherrod should access to the Kerns property be allowed from Sherrod Road. Sherrod road is a narrow, winding road that cannot take anymore traffic than that of the residents.

Staff Reply:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I will pass this on to our GIS staff so that the map can be corrected. The change will be shown on the next draft of the proposed zoning map, which will be released in mid to late April
 

In preparation for the ReCode workshop this evening, please see the attached PDF signed letter. 

To whom it may concern, There is a lot about this recode Knoxville that I am unaware of. I would like to gain more insight as to what this entails and how my household will be affected. Thank you. 

To whom it may concern,
There is a lot about this recode Knoxville that I am unaware of. I would like to gain more insight as to what this entails and how my household will be affected.

Thank you.

I support Recodeknoxville wholeheartedly. Please let us do what is right for our city by planning this way. We have the opportunity as our city grows and develops to improve even the air we breathe. Please support these changes for the benefit of all.

I support Recodeknoxville wholeheartedly. Please let us do what is right for our city by planning this way. We have the opportunity as our city grows and develops to improve even the air we breathe. Please support these changes for the benefit of all.

I support recode knoxville...hope you will too as my representative

Recode is the most unprofessional thing I've ever seen in Knoxville. It is ridiculous to end comments before we can read Draft Five. Unless there are huge changes I will work to recall any City Council member who votes to approve this mess. It is so arrogant to think in two years you could redo fifty years of zoning. The vast majority of people do not want the ADU's. The Mixed Use design is not ADA compliant. The changes to commercial property are idiotic. Your idea to restrict home business is a civil rights violation. When you are in court with the many lawsuits that will come ask yourself, "why did we rush this"? Expect a lot of staff time to be tied up in court. Your arrogance earned that. Fix this mess before it is voted on. City Council has no planning experience. Why did you pass on such an incomplete incomprehensible product?

We received a first notice by mail last week of ReCode. Being a multiple property owner in the City of Knox, this has not been adequately communicated to us. This is wrong and unjust to change our property rights without proper individual notice in a timely manner. I am spending hours searching a website and other avenues trying to find out what this really means. This is being poorly implemented and needs to slow down and make proper individual notifications to each homeowner as to what this could mean. We do not understand what is happening and we are feeling betrayed.

Your amendment stating that proper and adequate notification in the two Knox News Sentinel articles is ridiculous! NO ONE READS THE PAPER!

Where can I find detail information about the recode codes. The map only provides single word de-coding,

As a citizen of Knox County who will be affected by this vote who represents my voice? As a former Knox County Commissioner, I took my oath of office a a representative of not only my district but as a representative for everyone in our community. In doing so, I tried to vote to have a positive impact while at the same time diminishing unintended consequences as best as I could. With this massive rezoning of City parcels, there are more unintended consequences to this vote than benefits. In my opinion, there are serious questions that need to be answered; such as, if home businesses are not allowed, how does that impact home daycares, homeschools, and home churches? If higher density rates are the goal, has the school system, law enforcement, fire and other emergent service agencies been invited for input? If parking is recommended for behind the building in new mixed-use developments, how do Americans with Disabilities requirements impact this recommendation? Have property owners been properly noticed? How will these new codes be enforced? What will be the consequences-fines and/or liens? What are those amounts? What are the steps or processes in place for a property owner to object or oppose any enforcement? Where or how does one address their grievances? As a former Commissioner, I took zoning votes very seriously. Any zoning issue on the agenda, I would personally go and review the site, review the recommendations from MPC, and ensure that I was aware of neighbors/neighborhood viewpoints and impact. My vote was predicated on whether the zoning change would fit the community. I cannot square how any elected official could vote for such a massive rezoning without taking into consideration the impact could have on individual property owners. In closing, I will quote one of your fellow former council members, who in my opinion was a tireless voice for neighborhoods: "...What is broke?"-Barbara Pelot https://www.knoxtntoday.com/26429-2/ Barbara Pelot Thank you for this review of not only their workshop, but the disturbing consequences of the re-code movement. What is broke?? Knoxville's handling of zoning/re-zoning issues have been handled with tranparency and without out-of-town interference. We do NOT need or desire this manner of government over-ride of voter/taxpayer involvement. Listen to the "people". Workshops are worthless if they are merely for "show". 

For the past year, our community has been updated on RECODE by a handful of dedicated professionals/homeowners who work tirelessly attending meetings, and workshops to supply our community with the readers digest form of updates which has been a mammoth task to say the least. We thank and appreciate their dedication immensely because this whole process has been way too confusing for the average homeowner to comprehend. It's been stated that there has been 80 public meetings and workshops, most of us cannot attend due to a timeframe that interferes with work obligations. Why not communicate via US Mail earlier? Why not mail a survey on public opinion?? Finally homeowners get a vague letter mailed to their homes in February advising on the upcoming vote? Wow!

I hope your week is off to a great start. Fourth & Gill Neighborhood Organization sent a letter to the Mayor and Council last week on the subject of Recode and for some reason I did not copy you guys. My bad—you will find the letter which was officially approved by our board attached. Please enter it into the record and consider it’s request. 

Don't we have a choice? Why Recode, Knoxville never did enforce the codes.

Please protect our orange zone properties R1-R3. We need this in time of ever growing development, we are losing our communities, neighborhoods, inner-city schools to big business and developers. We need to know and care about our neighbors, our neighborhood children and schools. If we loose this we have lost out on a lot. I was born and raised in East Knoxville. I once lived in a house in Parkridge, when we moved to Burlington I thought we had moved to a mansion. We had an upstairs, downstairs, basement, lots of yard with fruit trees. I could walk to Fair Garden Elementary, stores on McCalla, Asheville Hwy and the Holston Shopping Center were plentiful. We could ride our bikes safely to the ballfield on Wilson Ave or Winona Ave. I have had the privilege and blessing of owning three homes in Northeast and East Knoxville, I worked several years in downtown Knoxville. This area has always been a special part of who I am and very dear part of my existence. I hear stories now of how hard it is for young adults to find affordable housing, buy a home to raise their children, families having to move in together to share expenses. I see how blessed I was and how difficult it would be if I was trying to raise children and buy a home.

Why in the world did MPC pass Recode when it is not complete? City Council can't fix this mess. Bring it back to MPC and fix it. My brother is an Architect in Atlanta. He told me we are much better off with our current zoning. He also said you will be sued by HUD if you build Mixed Use with the Recode design. How do you not know that? Very disappointed in MPC. You are not doing your job.

I realize that Recode Knoxville does not address noise, but with the purpose of Recode Knoxville to create a more dense population in certain areas, are the appropriate groups working to better enforce current noise laws/regulations and/ or create new legislation for noise? 

I live on Kingston Pike and cannot believe how the noise level has increased over the last 5 years with the increase in population  due to the development of downtown. I'm not opposed to the multi-purpose development but I think for everyone to live together in close quarters noise is a major factor. 

In addition, vehicles without mufflers are harming our environment as well as our ears! 
If there is one thing our city can do is provide protection for the environment and its citizens.

If there is no house # on lot, what does that mean?