To be heard July 10, 2025Agenda Item No. 12

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Staff Recommendation

Approve the C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district because it is compatible with the surrounding development.

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PURSUANT TO THE CITY OF KNOXVILLE ZONING ORDINANCE, SECTION 16.1.E, ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS MUST BE MET FOR ALL REZONINGS:

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT IS NECESSARY BECAUSE OF SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGED OR CHANGING CONDITIONS IN THE AREA AND DISTRICTS AFFECTED, OR IN THE CITY GENERALLY.
1. As previously mentioned, a road expansion and improvement project was completed along W Baxter Avenue in 2022, and the 2023 curb cuts project was completed 460 ft south of the subject property, at the intersection of Boyd Street and W Baxter Avenue. Both projects included improving pedestrian-oriented amenities, such as enhanced accessibility for existing sidewalks and an extension of the Second Creek Greenway walking trail.
2. In February 2025, the Knox County School Board approved the closure of Beaumont Magnet Academy, which lies directly across the street from the subject property. A new kindergarten through 8th-grade school will be built a mile to the west on the former Rule High School site.
3. The KCDC Western Heights development is underway to the north.

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE INTENT AND PURPOSES OF THIS CODE.
1. The C-N (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district is intended to provide for an environment of integrated residential development and small-scale commercial and service uses, predominantly serving nearby residential neighborhoods. The CN district is appropriate to consider here, as the subject property is located on the edge of the neighborhood block that features residential, office, commercial, and public quasi-public uses.
2. Rezonings should be based on the entire range of uses allowed within a zone to ensure that any development brought forth at a future time would be compatible with the surrounding land uses. The CN district permits residential uses, including single-family, multi-family, and townhouses, as well as less intensive commercial uses.

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT SHALL NOT ADVERSELY AFFECT ANY OTHER PART OF THE CITY, NOR SHALL ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT ADVERSE EFFECTS RESULT FROM SUCH AMENDMENT.
1. The C-N district has dimensional standards intended to mitigate adverse impacts on residential areas. Nonresidential development must adhere to Section 5.3.B of the City of Knoxville's Zoning Ordinance when a lot abuts a single-family residential district. Developments must maintain the privacy of adjacent lots through techniques such as decreased height, landscaping and screening measures, and increased setbacks.
2. The C-N zoning district also has design standards regulating façade design, building materials, fenestration design, and pedestrian access. Sites must be designed to minimize potentially dangerous traffic movements and points of conflict between vehicles and pedestrians or bicyclists and to ensure safe pedestrian access from the public right-of-way. Building design elements must also incorporate pedestrian-scale features like awnings and storefront windows.
3. Article 12.8 of the City's zoning ordinance requires a buffer yard between residential and nonresidential districts for any new construction.

THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT SHALL BE CONSISTENT WITH AND NOT IN CONFLICT WITH THE KNOXVILLE-KNOX COUNTY GENERAL PLAN AND ITS COMPONENT PARTS, INCLUDING ADOPTED SECTOR PLANS, CORRIDOR PLANS, AND RELATED DOCUMENTS.
1. The proposed rezoning would be consistent with the recommended NC (Neighborhood Commercial) land use classification amendment of the One Year Plan and Central City Sector Plan.
2. The rezoning is consistent with the General Plan's Development Policy 8.2, to locate neighborhood commercial so that it will enhance, rather than hinder, the stability of residential areas. The subject property is located on the edge of the residential neighborhood and accessed via Beaumont Avenue, a major collector street.

WHETHER ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ARE AVAILABLE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SCHOOLS, PARKS, POLICE AND FIRE PROTECTION, ROADS, SANITARY SEWERS, STORM SEWERS, AND WATER LINES, OR ARE REASONABLY CAPABLE OF BEING PROVIDED PRIOR TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IF THE AMENDMENT WERE ADOPTED.
1. This is an urbanized area with ample utility and service infrastructure in place to support a rezoning of this site.
2. There are sidewalks available on Beaumont Avenue and Boyd Street that connect and extend to Western Avenue to the west and the commercial corridor along N Central Street to the east.