FMPC approves Tommy’s grading plan
Saving trees was on the minds of Farragut Municipal Planning Commission when it voted unanimously during its March 17 meeting to approve a grading plan for eventual expansion of Tommy’s Knoxville, formerly Moses Watersports, with a condition to limit the grading.
Tommy’s Knoxville wants to construct a storage building and add parking to its facility at 11470 Outlet Drive with the expansion to take place on a 6.9-acre parcel.
The site plan for Moses Watersports was approved at FMPC’s Aug. 19, 2021, meeting that included a 16,000-square-foot building, parking lot and boat storage area screened with an 8-foot-tall fence. However, since that time, the business was sold to Tommy Slalom Shop of Comstock Park, Michigan.
“Tommy’s would like to extend the area used for boat storage and will be purchasing some, if not all, of the property to the east,” Town Community Development director Mark Shipley said. “Since grade work has been initiated on the property that was involved in the original approval, Tommy’s would like to extend the grading into the area where they plan to expand.
“Currently Tommy’s has an agreement with the abutting property owner to perform the work proposed,” Shipley added. “They are requesting to obtain approval for a rough grading for this property to the east.
“They will be submitting a site plan, potentially, next month for their expansion,” he said. “They have a subdivision plat they filed to acquire the property to the east.
However, Shipley said one of the subject to’s is documentation Tommy’s Knoxville has approval to legally work on the adjacent property.
Still, one of the biggest concerns for Shipley was “there’s quite a few trees that this is going to affect. It looks like about 281 replacement trees.
“I’ve asked that they could go back, look at the grading and try to save as many trees as they can and get an arborist to look at the trees on the periphery that could be saved,” he said.
“There’s a few that Chris Sharp (civil engineer with Urban Engineering Inc.) said he thinks they can save … trees on the southeast corner and northwest,” Shipley added. “I don’t have a plan for this area yet … it’s out there near the interstate, and the more you can kind of save, the better.”
“What are they trying to achieve?” asked Commissioner
“I kind of surprised that their site was so small to begin with,” said Louise Povlin, who also serves as vice mayor. “Boat manufacturers just keep on building.
“It looks to me as though they’re trying to gain some frontage on the highway as well,” she added.
“That’s something that we were totally against,” Mayor Ron Williams said.
“We really wanted to keep that tree cover along the highway,” Povlin said.
“I do recall, with Moses Watersports, that tree cover was a big topic of discussion,” Shipley said.
“I think we need to have more information here,” Commissioner Ed St. Clair said. “We don’t know what the site plan will look like.”
However, FMPC eventually agreed to recommend approval of the grading plan with
the stipulation the engineers do not extend southward past the “976” elevation at the
east end of the proposed property.
Tommy’s Knoxville also had to veer away from sinkholes on the property.
“We had quite a bit of discussion, the first time around, on this plot,” Sharp said. “We’re just going from the road to the parking lot.”
In the past, Sharp said, “I’ve said screened fences are a possibility.”
