Planners recommend steps to relax zoning

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

The Blount County Planning Commission is recommending the approval of several amendments that would relax current zoning regulations.

The recommendations came despite public comments against the measures at the Planning Commission's Thursday meeting.

"A perception exists that changes being considered ... are for the benefit of special interests," resident Joe Gallagher said. "This is not how the citizens of Blount County want business to be conducted."

Commissioners voted separately on each of the amendments, which range from increasing the allowable density of residential units in the R-1, Rural District, designation to changing where are allowed in the Rural Arterial Commercial districts.

Kathy Skinner, chairperson for the Raven Society political action committee, also spoke against the amendments.

"The proposed changes to the Blount County Zoning regulations directly contradict both Blount County's guiding principles for land use, which call for the preservation of the rural character of the county, and the Public Chapter 1101 plan adopted by the county in 2001, which, by law, restricts development outside the Urban Growth Boundary," she said.

The proposed amendments to the zoning regulations would:

Increase the maximum building height in both the Suburbanizing District and Commercial District designations from 35 feet to 55 feet.

Commissioners Ernest Blankenship, Tonya Burchfield, Gary Farmer, Scott Helton, Tom Hodge, Holden Lail, Bruce McClellan, Bill Proffitt, and Chairman Jim Scully voted yes for this amendment. Commissioners Rick Brownlie and Ed Stucky voted no.

Change the maximum density of residential units in the R-1, Rural District, designation from 1.2 units per acre to three units per acre, if the development is served by municipal sewer or a sand-filtration septic system.

Farmer said the change would make it economically feasible for more developers to create subdivisions with access to sewer rather than relying on septic tanks.

"If we cannot make it economically feasible for developers to put in sewer, we should not expect them to put in money for it," he said.

Blankenship, Burchfield, Farmer, Helton, Hodge, Lail, McClellan and Proffitt voted yes for this amendment. Brownlie, Scully and Stucky voted no.

Allow high-density multifamily residential developments in the Rural Arterial Commercial, RAC, zones to be built fronting 26-foot-wide roads, which are narrower than currently allowed.

Delete the maximum combined building size limit for developments in the RAC zones.

Currently, the maximum total area of buildings on a single property in the RAC district is 10,000 square feet. The proposed amendment would delete the maximum, but the total area could not exceed 40 percent of the lot size.

Farmer said the regulation, as written, was confusing and that removing the limit would clarify the meaning.

Burchfield, Farmer, Helton, Hodge, Lail, McClellan, Proffitt, and Scully voted to recommend approval. Commissioners Blankenship, Brownlie and Stucky voted no.

In other business, the Planning Commission voted to recommend denial of a request to rezone a 92-acre property on Peppermint Road from R-1 to Suburbanizing.

Several county residents had spoken out against the request, citing concerns about increased traffic on the road.