Re-Zoning/Re-Development Plan Help Requested.

Residents of Lakemoor, Timberlake, and Maloney Road West of Alcoa Highway need to stand up and be heard. Please attend the Knoxville Metropolitan Planning Commission meeting Thursday, January 11, 2007, at 1:30PM, in the Large Assembly Room of the City-County Building on Main Street in downtown Knoxville.

We urge you to oppose the rezoning of the property at Maloney Road and Ginn Road (Drive), Agenda item #81 [1]. The rezoning of this property is the predecessor to a complete change to the 2004 site plan for the old Maxey's boat dock. In February the developer is planning to present a new plan for further developing the site with changes even less conducive to the beauty of the area and the character of the neighborhood.

More after the jump...

Off of Alcoa Highway, at the intersection of Maloney Road and Ginn Road, condos are being developed (Gazebo Point at Waterford Cove). So far, so good (we guess). This location was previously a boat dock. There are approximately 5 acres in the development, zoned RP-1 which, in this instance, allows for 8 units per acre. Thus, 40 condos are planned. The condo development is surrounded by residences with agricultural (and estate) zoning in the county, although it is not really an agricultural area. The typical lot size in the area is 1 acre or more. Somehow this condo development was approved, the land was re-zoned from agricultural to medium-density residential, annexed into the city (sewers for the condos and taxes for the city) and the developer started building condos. A tiny little dot of city annexation surrounded by a rural (suburban) paradise.

The 2004 approved site-plan (single-unit condos side-by-side):

Now, the developer, from Florida, apparently mistook Tennesse property buyers for Florida buyers. The developer priced the condos in the $700,000 range in a neighborhood where a house on the lake can be purchased for less that that amount. Two years later not a condo has been sold and the developer is hurting for cash. The developer wants to re-zone an additional 1.4 acres originally planned for parking overflow (or something) from agricultural to RP-1 with low-density residential. The developer wants to be able to add an additional 6 condos to the plan. The developer wants to completely re-do the site plan to allow from 40 to 46 units, smaller units, 4-5 story apartment style, i.e. cheaper.

The 2007, subject to change, proposed site-plan (multi-story bldgs):

This is the same developer that requested the sewer pumping station to be in a Knox County park in exchange for a gazebo he later could not afford to build.

So far in my discussions with the city everyone seems to feel sorry for the developer. He's about to go bankrupt because the development has yet to be successful. Therefore, they seem to support his proposed changes to 4 & 5 story apartment type condos in an area that has no 4-5 story buildings within 5 miles.

I met the developer at the adjacent park when the project first got off the ground, condos just in the footer phase. At that time he spoke of condos starting at $450,000. In just about a year something happened and the condos were initially advertised at $700,000 +. Why do the citizens of Knoxville and Knox County keep having to pay (not necessarily financially) for bad business decisions?

The SoKno Waterfront project should be viewed in light of these zoning and project plan changes at the Gazebo/Maxey's boat dock development, which have occurred over the space of only two years. The SoKno Waterfront form-based zoning is item #1 on the agenda. The Gazebo/Maxey's zoning change, which are a precursor to revising the entire development plan, is item #81 on the agenda, after only two years. Expect changes to the SoKno Waterfront zoning and project plan to be hidden at the bottom of the list, too, when the next big project comes along and all the promises are long forgotten.