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Cocke County commissioners approve three state-highway rezones; campground rule change tabled
Summary
The Cocke County Commission approved three rezoning requests along Cosby Highway and voted to return a proposed amendment that would allow campgrounds and RV parks as a special exception in A-1 agricultural zoning for further work after commissioners raised location and guardrail questions.
Cocke County commissioners on Thursday approved three rezoning requests for properties along Cosby Highway but tabled a separate proposal to amend the county zoning resolution to permit campgrounds and recreational-vehicle (RV) parks in the A-1 Agriculture/Forestry zoning district as a special exception.
The commission approved rezones for 3066 Cosby Highway (Map 093, Parcel 071) and 3082 Cosby Highway (Map 102, Parcel 017) from R-1 (residential) to C-2 (commercial), and for 4362 Cosby Highway (Map 119, Parcel 075.06) from R-1 to C-2. A fourth petition, for 565 Highway 160 (Map 039, Parcel 043.01), to change from R-1 to A-1 (agriculture), also passed. Each item had been recommended by the planning commission during a prior meeting.
The rezoning votes were handled individually after an initial attempt to bundle the requests with the zoning-amendment resolution failed. The commission took voice or roll-call votes on each parcel and approved the individual rezones following planning commission recommendation and staff presentations.
Commission discussion about the proposed zoning amendment — which would add campground and RV-park uses as a special exception in A-1 — focused on location and process rather than outright opposition to campgrounds. Commissioners and citizens raised concerns that allowing campgrounds in agricultural areas could permit RV parks on small county roads and in valley communities where neighbors do not want that use.
"Most of them that I've talked to ... do not want RVs in agricultural areas," Commissioner Gail Blaser said during debate, pressing for clearer limits on where the county would allow such uses. Several commissioners asked for language that would limit special-exception campgrounds in A-1 to parcels that front state highways and that require Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) approval when on state routes. Planning commission staff and representatives said a site plan and planning-commission review would still be required for any special-exception application.
Planning commission staff confirmed that campgrounds are not currently listed in Cocke County's zoning regulations and that the proposed resolution was intended to add a regulated pathway — not an automatic entitlement — for those uses. Staff noted additional permit requirements for some sites, including TDOT access approval and floodplain elevation certificates for properties in flood-prone areas.
After several commissioners asked for the proposed language to explicitly require state-highway frontage or other guardrails, a second to the motion was withdrawn and the item was tabled for revision and return to the board.
The commission’s actions mean the individual rezones will proceed as approved; the broader zoning-text amendment to allow campgrounds in A-1 will be revised and returned for further review and vote.
The commission meeting record shows planning commission support for the rezones; objections from several residents were noted at the planning level and in public comment to the zoning amendment. No new ordinance or code text was adopted for campgrounds at this meeting.
