To be heard November 12, 2026Agenda Item No. 14

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Staff Recommendation

Approve the request for the reduction of minimum required parking spaces for a place of worship, subject to 4 conditions.

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1. Meeting all applicable requirements of Article 12 (Landscape) and any requirements of the City of Knoxville Urban Forestry Division during permitting, and installing the landscaping as shown on the landscape plan. Tree species may be changed to meet the species diversity requirement (Article 12.4), but the number and general location of plants shall align with the proposed landscape plan.
2. Meeting all applicable requirements of the City of Knoxville Zoning Ordinance.
3. Meeting all applicable requirements of the City of Knoxville Department of Plans Review and Inspections.
4. Meeting all applicable requirements of the City of Knoxville Department of Engineering.

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The Planning Commission approved an expansion of the Canaan Baptist Church in July under the former RP-1 (Planned Residential) district standards of the April 1982 Zoning Ordinance (file 7-H-26-SU). The approved plan included 100 parking spaces, exceeding the minimum required 97. The applicant now requests that the minimum required parking spaces be reduced to 78 to minimize disturbance on the site (supplemental letter in Exhibit B), which warrants another special use approval.

STANDARDS FOR EVALUATING A SPECIAL USE (ARTICLE 16.2.F.2)

1) THE USE IS CONSISTENT WITH ADOPTED PLANS AND POLICIES, INCLUDING THE GENERAL PLAN AND THE ONE-YEAR PLAN.
A. The proposed reduction is not expected to adversely impact any existing neighborhoods, which is consistent with the General Plan's Development Policy 9.3, to ensure the context of new development, including scale and compatibility, does not impact existing neighborhoods and communities.
B. The request is not in conflict with the One Year Plan's and East City Sector Plan's LDR (Low Density Residential) land use classification, which recommends residential zoning districts that all permit consideration of the use of a place of worship.

2) THE USE IS IN HARMONY WITH THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND INTENT OF THIS ZONING CODE.
A. The former RP-1 district is intended to provide optional methods of land development that encourage more imaginative solutions to environmental design problems.
B. The former zoning ordinance requires one parking space for every 3 seats or for every 25 sq ft of usable auditorium floor area, whichever is greater, calculated to be a minimum of 97 parking spaces for the church. For Previously Approved Planned Districts, variances from the former zoning ordinance are heard by the Planning Commission, rather than the Board of the Zoning Appeals, as part of special use review.
C. The proposed landscaping is designed under the current zoning ordinance standards (Article 12), which exceeds the requirements of the former zoning ordinance (Article V, Section 7.A.5). Per condition 1, the City's Urban Forestry division will review the landscaping requirements under the current standards during the permitting phase.

3) THE USE IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE CHARACTER OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE IT IS PROPOSED, AND WITH THE SIZE AND LOCATION OF BUILDINGS IN THE VICINITY.
A. The Planning Commission approved the expansion of the church with the previous application. There are no compatibility concerns with the revised parking layout.

4) THE USE WILL NOT SIGNIFICANTLY INJURE THE VALUE OF ADJACENT PROPERTY OR BY NOISE, LIGHTS, FUMES, ODORS, VIBRATION, TRAFFIC, CONGESTION, OR OTHER IMPACTS DETRACT FROM THE IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT.
A. The proposed reduction is not expected to have any significant adverse impact on adjacent properties. Additional parking can be accommodated on the adjacent senior living facility to the north. Similar to the recently approved plan, the proposed landscaping across the site and the removal of the gravel parking lot from the front yard would improve the property's aesthetics.

5) THE USE IS NOT OF A NATURE OR SO LOCATED AS TO DRAW SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL TRAFFIC THROUGH RESIDENTIAL STREETS.
A. The subject property is accessed via Beaman Lake Road, which is a minor collector street. Approval of this request is not expected to draw substantial additional traffic through local residential streets. The existing bus stops in front of the adjacent northern property provide a transit option for the church users.

6) THE NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE SURROUNDING AREA IS NOT SUCH AS TO POSE A POTENTIAL HAZARD TO THE PROPOSED USE OR TO CREATE AN UNDESIRABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PROPOSED USE.
A. There are no known uses or environmental factors immediately surrounding the subject property that would pose a potential hazard or have an undesirable impact on the proposed parking layout.