Outlet Drive’s 240 + 80
Prelim plat for townhomes, apartments affect Town streets: FMPC
“The development’s not really in the Town, but in the traffic impact study associated with it, there are some recommendations that would affect some of the Town’s streets,” Community Development director Mark Shipley said. “So, the Planning Commission is required to review and approve the items that are going to be performed on our streets.”
Located adjacent to Tapestry at Turkey Creek Apartments near Smith Road, “The development is called Venture at Laster Farms,” Shipley said. “It’s kind of a mix (of apartments and townhomes).”
Presented by Canon & Canon, an engineering firm, the complex is Millstone Construction and Development’s first development in Tennessee.
He said the property was rezoned a few months ago to provide for the development. He noted the preliminary plat includes a turn lane for the property and improvements at Snyder Road/North Campbell Station Road intersection in association with the proposed development.
“One of the things that we, the Town, are requiring — and (Knox County Engineering and Public Works chief engineer) Jim Snowden said they would make sure they would enforce this — is (the county) can issue up to 100 building permits before these improvements have to be completely finished,” Shipley said. “We didn’t want it to get too far along. We wanted there to be some teeth in it to make sure that these improvements get accomplished before it’s too far down the road.”
He said the property’s access is completely in the county, a little more than 200 feet from the access to Tapestry at Turkey Creek, which fronts Outlet Drive.
“The reason they aren’t putting the access further east is there’s actually, I think, a sinkhole in the area,” Shipley said.
“Yes, and there’s a culvert under Outlet Drive,” said Jason Hunt, Canon & Canon civil site technical lead engineer. “It’s a non-buildable lot.”
The location for the proposed development’s access “is not ideal,” Shipley said. “Honestly, I wish the county had required these two (Tapestry and Venture) to connect, but they didn’t.” The Town, however, is requiring the developers to include a traffic impact study recommending the proposed improvements and a completion letter of credit for the proposed work within the Town.
The proposed preliminary plat is expected to be an item on the Thursday, June 19, FMPC meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. in Town Hall Board Room.
