VOL. 54 NO. 33
www.ShopperNewsNow.com |
BUZZ
August 19, 2015
www.facebook.com/ShopperNewsNow
A great day at Sterchi
Rogero plans Lake update Mayor Madeline Rogero and members of City Council will meet the public at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the Lions Club Building in Fountain City Park to update citizens on the improvement project underway at Fountain City Lake. The 125-year-old lake has suffered from excess algae and poor water circulation for decades. Rogero and the council included $250,000 in this year’s city budget for improvements. Work began last fall to repair a leak in the earthen berm that surrounds the lake.
Central’s Sports Hall of Fame The first class of the Central High School Sports Hall of Fame will be inducted at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, at the school. Honorees include coach Joel Helton, coach Bud Bales, coach Tommy Schumpert, Tony Cosey, and Lorie Compton Rheinecker. Tickets are $25 which includes breakfast. Info: J.D. Lambert, james. lambert@knoxschools.org.
Carnival returns The Knox North Lions Club will host a Back-to-School Carnival Wednesday through Saturday, Aug. 19-22, at the lot just south of the new Food City on Clinton Highway. All-day rides are $20; open Wednesday and Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday, 5-11 p.m.; and Saturday, 1-11 p.m.
See movies in a whole new way Nowadays, you never have to leave your house to see a movie. That’s what Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes are afraid of. More and more, film watchers are giving up on movie theaters – which don’t offer much variety anyway – and staying home to view either streaming movies or ones on DVD.
➤
Read Betsy Pickle on page A-11
SHOPPER ONLINE ShopperNewsNow.com
North/East Knox: In-depth coverage of festivities at Knoxville Botanical Gardens; red carpet at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy. Bearden: Kate Moore juggles jobs; Wendy Smith goes to Pub Talk at Cedar Springs. Powell: The Crown College and Temple Baptist Academy impact community; interstate interchange landscaping goes to bid. Karns: Church of Christ offers special camp for special kids; South: Urban bio blitz; Marble Springs prepares for fundraiser.
7049 Maynardville Pike 37918 (865) 922-4136 NEWS news@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark | Ruth White ADVERTISING SALES ads@ShopperNewsNow.com Patty Fecco | Tony Cranmore Alice Devall | Beverly Holland
Sterchi Elementary students and staff members celebrate as principal Christine Boring and PTA president J. Brent Morrison cut the ribbon on the new playground equipment. Thanks to many hours of fundraising through jump rope marathons, collecting pennies, family fun nights and dances, the playground was installed on the school campus. Sterchi would like to thank an anonymous donor who pitched in to help the school with the project. Photo
by Ruth White
Painful vote brings cell tower to Fountain City By Sandra Clark Expect an appeal to City Council, but a new telecommunications tower on Ridgecrest Road inched closer last week when the Metropolitan Planning Commission voted 8-5 to approve the rezoning requested by Branch Towers. Neighbors battled hard against the 150-foot tower, and MPC commissioners debated extensively. But federal law leaves local governments few options to deny such towers, even when they are built in residential areas.
Mary Miller. The tower is being built for T-Mobile with space for two more carriers to co-locate. There will be a 40-foot vegetation buffer. The neighbors have 15 days to appeal. Kelly Ellenburg spoke for residents, and Don Lee added objections about storm water runoff. MPC’s new executive director, Gerald Green, assured commissioners that the staff will monitor the reforestation and landscaping plan to ensure it meets “the intent of comments made here today.”
The vote: Yes – Bart Carey, Art Clancy III, Laura Cole, Len Johnson, Rebecca Longmire, Jeffrey Roth, Scott Smith and Janice Tocher. No – Herb Anders, Elizabeth Eason, Mac Goodwin, Michael Kane and Jack Sharp. The Rev. Charles Lomax Jr. left before the vote.
Church and state and zoning By Betty Bean Last week, the Northside Church of Christ in Heiskell, facing a Metropolitan Planning Commission staff recommendation to deny its request to rezone its property from low density residential to commercial, removed the proposition from MPC’s August agenda just hours before the meeting. In deep West Knoxville, neighbors who oppose First Baptist Concord’s request to rezone 26.4 acres at 9635 Westland Drive from public institutional/planned residential to commercial are hunkered down until October, awaiting the results of a traffic study conducted while schools are in session that will consider the effects a shopping center could have on the neighborhood. Meanwhile, North Knoxville neighborhoods are organizing to fight a chain of events triggered by Centerpointe Church’s decision to sell out to a developer who also proposes to buy the iconic Howard house next door and build a “neighborhood” Walmart on its North Broadway location. A 24hour payday loan company is already under construction on the south end of the formerly churchowned parcel and a popular inde-
Commit to be fit. Start your fitness program today. For more information, call 859-7900 or visit Tennova.com. Located off Emory Road in Powell
The MPC staff recommended approval with 14 conditions including landscaping. Michael Kane voted no, saying, “It seems to me there needs to be a lot more work on logistics.” Kane said the real issue is enforcement, not landscaping. Chair Rebecca Longmire pushed for a vote, saying MPC had “done what we can do,” and the issue should move on to City Council. Branch Towers will lease an area 100 feet by 100 feet and an easement to the site, said attorney
pendent Apple computer shop that has been there for 37 years will be displaced. Even though there is considerable commercial activity here, the developer will need to get the property rezoned to accommodate the new use. In Inskip, the new owner of a former church building long abandoned by its Presbyterian congregation and surrounded by single-family homes was successful in getting the parcel rezoned from low density residential to office over the protests of its nearest neighbors. Churches enjoy a special status under city and county zoning ordinances. The city allows them to move into residential neighborhoods, subject to use on review requirements. County zoning regulations are similar for residential neighborhoods and allow them as a permitted use in agricultural zones (use on review is required in city Ag zones). But problems between churches and neighborhoods are becoming more common as churches decide to relocate, expand or disband and attempt to maximize their profits on the real estate market. Former City Council member Carlene Malone says it’s time to reconsider churches’ legal status.
“We’re not looking at churches as perhaps they really are today. We need to realize that this is not the little neighorhood church that’s going to stick around forever. It’s a business model. Land is held like a portfolio, and when the time comes to sell, even though they bought it at residential or agricultural prices, they want to sell it commercial – at commercial prices.” Malone said that modern mega churches are a far cry from the traditional concept of churches that are active on Sundays and Wednesday nights. “These are not small uses – not to say they are bad things – but their impact is greater than the old neighborhood churches. The other thing is, what happens when they leave? Do we continue to allow them as use on review in residential neighborhoods because we think they have low impacts, when actually they may well be seeking to expand – and if they don’t expand, they may well move? Or is it time we start looking at them as the business model they actually operate under rather than looking at them as enhancements to neighborhoods?” The First Baptist Concord rezoning battle is likely to be epic. The property in question – at
9635 Westland Drive, 5.7 miles from the church’s Kingston Pike address – has a long history of zoning fights, dating back to 1988 when neighbors opposed to placing a Pellissippi Parkway exit ramp there battled developers to the state Supreme Court. It later became part of the city after a “finger annexation,” and attorney Wayne Kline has been involved at every step along the way. He is representing opponents of the First Baptist rezoning request and believes the traffic study will show that commercial development will be harmful to the neighborhood. “There’s lots of room for commercial at Northshore,” he said. “Why do you have to bring in a commercial component to Westland? I think a good traffic study will say you can’t put commercial development in here and hopefully MPC will do their job and make sure things are done properly. The purpose of zoning regulations is compatibility.” Ultimately, the issue will land on City Council’s agenda. Council member Mark Campen, whose district includes the Inskip area as well as North Broadway, and To page A-3 2704 Mineral Springs Ave. Knoxville, TN 37917 Ph. (865) 687-4537
Quality rehabilitation & fitness in a friendly and non-competitive environment
• Physical Therapy • Aquatic Physical Therapy • Functional Capacity Evaluations • Jump Start Health & Fitness Program • Occupational & Industrial Services • Vocational Services • Work Conditioning www.associatedtherapeutics.com