Disposition Summary

Approve the request for a medical office/clinic with a maximum floor area of 4,500 sqft in the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) district, subject to 3 conditions.

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Staff Recommendation

Approve the request for a medical office/clinic with a maximum floor area of 4,500 sqft in the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) district, subject to 3 conditions.

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1) Meeting all applicable requirements of the City of Knoxville Zoning Ordinance.
2) Meeting all applicable requirements of the City of Knoxville Engineering Department.
3) Meeting all applicable requirements of the City of Knoxville Plans Review and Inspections Department.

With the conditions noted, this plan meets the requirements for approval in the C-N District and the criteria for approval of a special use.

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This proposal is for a medical clinic within the Western Heights development, located on the north side of the W. Oak Hill Avenue and Reed Street intersection. The medical clinic is in the southwest corner of the subject building's ground floor. Initially, the medical clinic will have approximately 3,200 sqft of floor area, with a maximum floor area of 4,500 sqft if the clinic expands in the future.

The subject building is located in the KCDC (Knoxville's Community Development Corporation) Western Heights community and is part of the Transforming Western Heights redevelopment project. The new internal transportation network is under construction, including two-way roads with on-street parking, planting strips, and sidewalks on both sides of the street. This mixed-use building is four stories tall, with ground-floor non-residential uses and entries from the W. Oak Hill Avenue building elevation. The upper three stories are residential dwelling units.

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 One Year Plan and Central City Sector Plan designation for this site are MU-NC (Mixed Use Neighborhood Center), which is intended for medium density mixed use development with housing densities of 6 to 12 dwelling units per acre. The buildings of these centers should be designed with a residential character and scale to serve as a complement to the surrounding neighborhoods. The subject 4-story mixed-use building has a common design on all floors, with the exception of larger storefront windows on the ground floor, and exclusive use of brick and stone exterior cladding. On the upper floors, the building is broken into modules using different cladding materials and the orientation of the materials, including brick and fiber cement used as a lap siding and smooth panels.
B. The medical clinics typically have low traffic volumes compared to other non-residential uses and provide vital services to area residents.

2) THE USE IS IN HARMONY WITH THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND INTENT OF THIS ZONING CODE.
A. The C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) District is intended to provide for an environment of integrated residential development and small-scale commercial and service uses, predominantly serving nearby residential neighborhoods. Low-intensity mixed-use is encouraged within the C-N District, with dwellings permitted above the ground floor, as well as multi-family and townhouse development located alongside select commercial uses.
B. The proposed 3,200 to 4,500 sqft medical clinic is a low-intensity use serving the nearby residential neighborhoods.

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 proposed medical clinic is located within a mixed-use structure with non-residential ground floor uses with access to W. Oak Hill Avenue, and residential dwellings on the upper stories.

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. No adverse impacts are expected on adjacent properties resulting from this approval.

5) THE USE IS NOT OF A NATURE OR SO LOCATED AS TO DRAW SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL TRAFFIC THROUGH RESIDENTIAL STREETS.
A. The proposed medical clinic is within the master planned, mixed-use Western Heights redevelopment project known as Transforming Western Heights. The anticipated impacts of the proposed non-residential uses have been taken into consideration with the new street design, which includes on-street parking, sidewalks on both sides of the street, planting strips, and speed humps to control traffic speed.

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 in the area that could be a potential hazard or create an undesirable environment for the proposed uses within the development.