BOMA: careful consideration of curb cut
John and Sarah Mailen will have to wait on an answer to their request for vehicular access to their property off Concord Road.
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted 3-1 to postpone action on the Mailens’
request during its meeting Thursday, Oct. 12.
“I just want a curb cut so I can get to my property from Concord Road,” Sarah Mailen, the applicant, said. “I would like to develop it. It would be a very nice
development.”
A preliminary site plan for her property shows a strip mall development.
Vice Mayor Ron Pinchok, who made the motion to postpone, which was seconded by Mayor Ralph McGill, said he wanted more information before making a decision.
“I don’t feel comfortable making a decision today,” Pinchok said.
“This sounds like a lot we don’t know yet,” McGill said. “I don’t know how to proceed.”
“I think we need more information,” Alderman Ron Williams added.
Pinchok, McGill and Williams voted for the postponement but Alderman Bob Markli voted against the motion.
“There’s no compelling reason not to allow access for commercial property,” Markli said.
The Mailens own 4.68 acres of Neighborhood Commercial-zoned property off Concord Road. They are asking for a variance to the Town’s Driveways and other Accessways ordinance, which requires the minimum distance from intersections and minimum distance between driveways to be 400 feet.
The right-in/right-out access, which the applicants are requesting, is “roughly 380 feet,” Mark Shipley, Farragut Community Development director, said.
The Mailens are attempting to time the approval of the curb cut with Tennessee Department of Transportation’s project to widen Concord Road, so the curb cut could be included in the project. Shipley said TDOT is expected to initiate the project but added
that project already has been pushed back.
“[The Mailens] have 740 feet of [Concord Road] frontage and very limited access,” said Gary Tucker, an engineer who spoke on behalf of the applicants. Tucker presented the preliminary plan and said he already has TDOT approval
for the curb cut. He added
TDOT’s startup of the project is very imminent.
“The site plan that is shown with the applicant’s requested access is very preliminary,” Shipley said. “The requested access point is where the desired access could be situated and has not been presented to Knox County.
“The applicant is solely requesting an access approval with the understanding that the development of the site may change from what is included in your packets,” he added.
Two other factors that held up aldermen were a recommendation from Town engineer Darryl Smith to add a deceleration lane and Town staff comments the applicants also could get an access from Second Drive.
However, Tucker countered by saying the recommended length of the deceleration lane was too long, only having access
off Second Drive would put a
burden on Second Drive and
denying access from Concord
Road would devalue the Mailens’
property.
In other business, the Board approved unanimously, on first reading, an ordinance replacing the Town’s existing sinkhole ordinance and adding new requirements. But it agreed to hold off on a second reading until the Stormwater Advisory Committee had time to review and make a recommendation on the new ordinance.
“The Town’s current sinkhole ordinance was adopted in 2005,” said Bart Hose, assistant Community Development director. “It has been very effective since then but a recent variance request we’ve [made] to the Board of Zoning Appeals regarding the ordinance identified a conflict between the central ordinance and the Town’s more recent connectivity goals and requirements.”
Hose explained Dollar General Store requested a variance from the sinkhole ordinance to fill a portion of a sinkhole so it could build a required inter-parcel connection drive and walking trail extension along Kingston Pike.
Farragut BZA denied the variance, however, citing specific language in the ordinance that prohibited the filling in of sinkholes for “construction of local streets, driveways and walking trails,” he quoted.
Hose said a new ordinance was drafted to clarify the existing ordinance and provide flexibility in situations where the ordinance “may conflict with other important public plans or policies and to address, in a limited fashion, situations where a sinkhole is discovered after site construction has started.”
Robin “Bob” Hill, who serves on the Stormwater Advisory Committee and is a former chair of Farragut Municipal Planning Commission, asked the Board to postpone reading the amended ordinance for at least a month until the committee could put the matter on its agenda.
He later agreed with the Board’s action to wait for the second reading until the committee had time to go over it.
Hill said the current committee has not reviewed the changes and their ramifications in regard to how the Town handles stormwater.
The Board also approved a special events permit for annual Hot to Trot 5k/10k & Fun Run, presented by Fleet Feet Knoxville Running Club, which is scheduled for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23, along portions of Parkside Drive. The 5k and 10k runs will begin at 7:30 a.m., with the Fun Run beginning at 9 a.m. Participant race packets can be picked up beginning at 6:30 a.m. in front of Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville,11619 Parkside Drive.
