Harrison Road rezoning denied
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Rose Letsinger of Lenoir City spoke out at Farragut Municipal Planning Commission during its Thursday, Sept. 17, meeting. - Tammy Cheek
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Farragut Municipal Planning Commission denied Homestead Land Holdings’ request to rezone property at the corner of Harrison Road and Watt Road during FMPC’s meeting Thursday, Sept. 17. - Tammy Cheek
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Homestead Land Holdings, on behalf of Saddlebrook Properties, is asking Farragut Municipal Planning Commission for property to be rezoned from Agriculture to Attached Single-Family Residential. - Tammy Cheek
Homestead Land Holdings’ request to rezone 12.25 acres at 13117 Harrison Road from Agricultural to Attached Single-Family Residential (R-4) for townhomes failed when the Farragut Municipal Planning Commission voted not to support the rezoning during its meeting Thursday, Sept. 17.
The motion, made by newly appointed Commissioner Michael Wilson and seconded by Commissioner Noah Myers, passed unanimously.
The vote hinged in part on the Town’s ongoing update of its Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
“I have two comments,” said Myers, who was chosen FMPC chairman. “First, I do want to remind everybody that the land use plan is a guide. It’s not the holy grail of all the decisions that we make, and it is a dynamic document as well.
“With that being said, I think that Agricultural to R-4 is too radical of a change at this time,” he said.
Vice Mayor Greg Wiberley, who also is a new Planning Commissioner, said, “… the first thing we want to do is not appear to be tone-deaf to those [residents] comments.”
“I appreciate wanting to come in at four to six units per acre,” Wilson said. “Obviously, a property in the land use plan could be up to eight units per acre, so I do appreciate the developers’ foresight to come in a little bit under that density.
“I tend to agree on the density on this property with the rest of the Commission; however, I have concerns with saying that part of the reason we don’t want to take action on this, up or down, is because we have a land use plan that’s in flux right now,” Wilson said. “Does that mean we’re not going to consider the Mixed Use Town Center if somebody brings a project? Are we putting a moratorium on development at this point until that plan comes to fruition and is approved?" he asked.
“I think that’s a bigger discussion that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen need to have,” he added.
Still, Wilson agreed a decision on the request was premature.
“I think it makes a lot of sense to go R-4 here for a lot of different reasons,” Vice Chairman Jeff Devlin said. “I really like the idea of improving Harrison Road and not waiting a long time, but the reality is we’re in a different time right now, and there is a strong push to wait until the land use plan is modified.
“So, I think my encouragement would be to be as involved with that as possible and to encourage it to go R-4 during that process,” he told the developers.
FMPC’s decision followed comments from Loudon County residents questioning the proposed rezoning because the property is near the Loudon County line, even though the portion proposed for rezoning is entirely within Farragut.
“Our biggest question about the property that’s on Harrison Road is the traffic,” said Rose Letsinger, a Lenoir City resident who lives across the street and north of the property proposed for rezoning. “What’s going to be done to fix the traffic issue?
“The whole area, if you’ve been to the park, is a skinny road,” she said. “What is
going to be done to curb
the traffic when you put 50 to 100 more vehicles on that road?”
Letsinger added that there are drainage issues in the area.
“Traffic is a big concern,” echoed Mike Driver, president of the Amberly Meadows Homeowners Association in Lenoir City.
Shipley noted when staff discussed the proposed rezoning in August, members questioned whether it was premature because the Town has initiated a townwide update to its Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which “will likely result in modifications to the existing Future Land Use Map.”
Shipley said he expects the CLUP update to be completed in June 2027.
“R-4 zoning is Medium Density Residential,” said Thomas Krakewski, vice president of land development with HLH, who previously explained HLH is pursuing the townhome community for Saddlebrook Properties. “Zoning ranges from one to six [dwellings], and R-4 allows us to stay in the single-family housing category. R-5 bumps us up into multi-family housing and that is something we do not do nor we would like to do.
“… We’re trying to [build] a townhome development that will stay in the single-family realm and help continue that Watt Road to become a very liveable, walkable community,” he said, adding HLH plans to improve Harrison Road and part of Watt Road under “complete streets” regulations, including creating full 13-foot travel lanes with pedestrian facilities.
“Those improvements would be at the expense of the developer,” Krakewski added.
