Town Center T’house site plan gets Commish reviews
Plans are moving along for Farragut Town Center at Biddle Farms Townhouses, as C3 Studio Designs and Site Inc. architects presented an updated site plan for the townhouses during the Farragut Municipal Planning Commission Staff/Planner meeting Tuesday, Nov. 1.
“I think these buildings look really good,” Farragut Community Development director Mark Shipley said.
However, he noted, “There’s a lot of units being crammed in here.
“One unit has a questionable access,” Shipley added.
Farragut Town Center at Biddle Farms is planning to build 47 townhomes in the southeast area of the Town Center development. The units will have rear access with private alleys behind the units, allowing for private drives.
The latest plan will be submitted to FMPC at its Thursday, Nov. 17, meeting.
“They presented a concept plan to the Planning Commission and (Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen) because it was a major amendment to the (Planned Commercial Development zoning),” Shipley said.
He noted the alleys would be 24 feet wide while the public streets would be 26 feet wide.
Fire Marshal Dan Johnson said the developers are meeting the access requirements for emergency vehicles.
“This will be like a planned unit development,” Shipley said. “These are lots that people actually own — like a condo.”
“I know (Planning Commissioner) Ed St. Clair asked about this one,” said Vice Mayor Louise Povlin, an FMCP member, indicating one of the units’ access. “I assume that’s your garage, so you guys (the architects) have clarity that’s not going to be a problem?”
“There’s a lot of stuff in a relatively small area,” Shipley said. “For example, you’re backing up and here’s the unit edge right next to the back up.”
“We don’t need a secondary access?” asked Mayor Ron Williams, also an FMPC member.
Annette Hommel, architect with Site Inc., said there is only one access.
“We’ve got too many (units) for one access,” Williams observed.
“It’s for fire codes,” Povlin said.
“Based on my evaluation, because they have that outer access to access all those units and then they have that inner access, they are meeting the intent of that requirement,” Johnson said. “Would I always encourage another point of access — absolutely — but I don’t know if I can push the point from a legal standpoint.”
“Because most of them have frontage,” Povlin said. “There are only those interior units.”
“That’s one of the things on this that needs to be really clear,” Shipley said.
“One of the com
ments I had is who is responsible for maintaining what on the infrastructure — streets, sidewalks, whatever?”
