December 12, 2024
Planning Commission meeting
Planning Commission meeting
Public Comments
17 Comments for 11-A-22-PD
Rhonda
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37849
Rhonda (37849), October 23, 2022 at 9:09 PM
I’m writing in regards to your traffic study for this development. Your report shows that there wears ver little difference in the 2 studies. The study done this year was done the second week schools were out for the summer. This is also the week that most families take their summer vacations. Traffic on W. Emory Road is at an all time low during this period. If you were serious about doing an accurate study you would do it the 2nd or 3rd week after school starts. I have no doubt that Smithbilt will build anything they want and the county will back them because they want the money. So don’t try to sell me on an inadequate traffic study. I live in this community and travel these roads daily. Those of us that do, know what a development of this magnitude will do to our already heavy traffic areas. Please have the state widen W. Emory before you approve any more development on Karns side of W.Emory.John
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John (37849), November 3, 2022 at 3:31 PM
PDF attachedView Attachment
https://agenda.knoxplanning.org/attachments/20221103153110.pdf
Jenette
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Jenette (37849), November 3, 2022 at 9:20 PM
I want to direct the commission to the survey Smithbuilt conducted when they asked for community input. All of the communities concerns were expressed in that survey. The top being lack of infrastructure, transportation issues, educational overcrowding, safety and noise concerns. The traffic study alone shows that Emory and Clinton Highway would need major updates in order to accommodate the amount of added traffic. I understand we can not stop growth but I am asking that the communities concerns be addressed and thus the roads, infrastructure etc be updated prior to adding yet another large subdivision on Emory. Linda
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Linda (37849), November 5, 2022 at 11:27 AM
No additional housing should be approved for this section of Emory Road. This 2 lane road is heavily traveled at present. Kim
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Kim (37849), November 7, 2022 at 12:59 PM
We moved to Powell in 2018 to get away from traffic and crowds.we love the small town feel and the quire .I love hearing the cows from the pasture that Smithbuilt wants to over populate with small lists and houses that you can reach out and knock on your neighbors hose .this will cause increased traffic on a road where most do not go the speed limit to begin with as well it will add to the already overwhelmed school systems in pure area . If they would put in acre or two acre lots where there is still some green I may feel okay I am opposed to apartments of any kind , please reconsider this zoning and leave the wildlife alone . We don’t need cookie cutter houses on top of one another . Why does the general public never know about the sale of these huge lots that they purchase ?
John
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John (37849), November 28, 2022 at 12:26 PM
Please take the time to review the attached PDF with some aerial photos of the Belltown proposed area along with two of their maps. Hopefully, these will help demonstrate the negative impact this plan will have if left unaltered. If Belltown is developed as proposed, those green spaces and mature trees will be lost forever to a sea of concrete. This development has merit; however, it is not the appropriate development for this area of Emory Road unless the plan is altered significantly.
This development should be required to maintain the same character of the existing neighborhoods with a minimum no commercial development and multi-unit housings and reducing the quantity of housing units dramatically to less than 250.
Please note the PC was considering denying the Fairview Road subdivision in northeast Knox County near Gibbs because of its size and traffic impact. Fairview proposal is for 126 homes on 96 acres. Mathematically that is 1.3 homes per acre with a lot size of .76 acre. Belltown works out to be 2.4 homes per acre on 215 acres with 525 single family homes. That is a lot size of .4 acre, 52% smaller than Fairview. Another issue was the impact of construction over 5 years, Belltown is considering 10 years of building.
Thank you
John Lomax
Resident for 35 years in Washington Heights, 37849
View Attachment
https://agenda.knoxplanning.org/attachments/20221128122613.pdf
Marlena
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Marlena (37849), November 29, 2022 at 11:19 AM
Please consider the already high traffic on West Emory Road. We need traffic improvement already. Not to mention the over crowding of schools.Linda
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Linda (37931), November 30, 2022 at 10:35 AM
The impact on the Karns community with this development will continue to further impact schools, roads, and general infrastructure. Karns has continued to outgrow these already. If this development is approved then we need to fix roads first.
Thank you for allowing this input.
Deborah
Mont
Mont
Deborah (Mont ), November 30, 2022 at 1:28 PM
Please don't approve this. The roads, schools, can't handle additional traffic or students. This area is HOMES, not shopping ctrs, theater, apartments or condos. Please only allow homes. The current plan is to dense. No driveways, alleyways!! This isn't appropriate for the area. The land is a landmark with the civil war cemetery. It should be shown respect. This plan doesn't fit, 10 year project! Infrastructure necessary BEFORE this monstrosity is crammed down our throats. Please deny project.Julie
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Julie (37849), December 4, 2022 at 9:27 AM
I live in Washington Heights and our property backs up to the Bell Town Property. I've lived here for many years. The traffic on Emory road is 10X what it was 10 yrs ago. There are many areas where there is not enough room to pull over due to break downs or emergency situations. There are high drop off areas with no guard rails. I would consider West Emory road way past todays standards for safety. It would be a hazard to continue developing this area without first making West Emory a safe road to drive on. It is already hazardous enough. Our school buildings in Powell were not built to accommodate the numbers they are already enrolling.
We have underpaid over worked teachers struggling to educate the children in their already over crowded class rooms.
We are also struggling with the opioid epidemic issues on a very high level in the 37849 zip code. Our young people have been affected greatly by addiction in the Powell Community. It would be hard to find one family who has not known another family that has lost a young person to overdose.
Our community needs investment in the people already trying to live and thrive in this community.
Our water supplier has the highest rates I've ever heard of. We pay a couple hundred each month while surrounding county's pay a fourth of that. We have many problems in Powell that need addressing and frankly have been ignored. If these problems are fixed maybe we could handle more folks. If they are not it will cost livesl.
Brenda
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Brenda (37849), December 6, 2022 at 9:09 AM
This is one of the biggest mistakes ever. We now have problems exiting our subdivision, this added plan is going to place so many people in jeopardy, which doesn’t seem to be a concern for you or Smithbuilt. It would be nice to think that our safety was a concern for all involved in these decisions!!!Angel
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Angel (37871), December 6, 2022 at 11:21 AM
I'm from the Karns area and would really like to move back to that area. There's not a lot of available homes in a price range I can afford in the Karns area. I'm looking forward to this community so that I can get my family back to the part of town that would be more convenient for us. We need more homes that people can afford. I can't afford $500,000 and up homes. Lisa
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Lisa (37849), December 6, 2022 at 3:46 PM
I believe this new subdivision is too much for the area. Emory Road is already very crowded and dangerous. This would add much traffic to a road already struggling. The schools here are also not able to hold all the new possible students.Lots of tiny home with very small lots will also bring property values down near by. It will impact the environment negatively.
Rhonda
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Rhonda (37849), December 7, 2022 at 8:45 AM
Please read message in the attached PDF. View Attachment
https://agenda.knoxplanning.org/attachments/20221207084520.pdf
Sally
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Sally (37849), December 7, 2022 at 12:48 PM
See attached PDFView Attachment
https://agenda.knoxplanning.org/attachments/20221207124814.pdf
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth (37849), December 8, 2022 at 1:38 PM
It is apparent that W Emory can not manage any more traffic. It is already extremely busy and very difficult and dangerous to pull out of our subdivision. This is and was meant to be a residential area. Retail shops would only make matters worse. The road already needs to be reworked. James
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James (37932), December 20, 2022 at 9:08 AM
BellTowne - are developers required to pony up money to increase the capacity of roadways leading to and from the development. Hardin Valley is an example of roadways not being upgraded to increase the capacity required by thousands of new homes. Hardin Valley is grid lock during rush hours because of this. Seems to me that developers were required to address this before construction began but that may have been in Florida, not sure. This is a problem that surely should be addressed up front so we can avoid more of this crummy Grid Lock.