Neighbors’ safety, notice concerns send Keck Road rezoning back to planning

The Knoxville City Council voted to send a proposed rezoning for property on Keck Road back to the planning staff for further analysis and recommendations after several neighbors testified against the change and staff raised safety concerns.

The request sought to change the zoning of roughly 1.38 acres on Keck Road from agricultural to RN‑1 (residential) to allow the applicant to subdivide the parcel. Neighbors and planning staff said the parcel’s access and surrounding conditions warrant closer study before council approves any change to intensify residential development.

Why the council sent the item back Members of the nearby neighborhood told council they had not received required mailed notice, that Keck Road is extremely narrow (residents said the road is about 15 feet wide), and that the planning staff recommended denial. Art Haines, who lives on Keck Road, said the county‑side Valley Pines neighborhood should be considered as an adjacent established neighborhood and warned that rezoning could set a precedent enabling much denser development in future. Resident John Hitt, who said he has lived on Keck Road for 35 years, emphasized safety concerns tied to sight distance and the narrow roadway.

Planning and engineering considerations Planning staff said the property currently lacks sanitary sewer service; that triggers different minimum lot sizes for septic systems (staff noted a 20,000‑square‑foot minimum for lots not served by sewer). Engineering staff told council that stormwater detention and sight‑distance analyses would be required and that without sanitary sewer the number of buildable lots is constrained by soils and stormwater requirements. The applicant’s engineer said existing rules would limit the property to three lots given the on‑site constraints, and that soils testing would determine bedroom counts for septic systems.

Motion and outcome Councilmember Singh moved to remand the application to planning to evaluate other zoning options (including whether an Established Neighborhood — EN — designation is appropriate on this site) and to consider engineering and sight‑distance issues; the motion was seconded and carried. The mayor’s office noted that remanding to planning will reset the statutory clock for city action.

Ending Planning staff will review the requested parcel with the direction from council, analyze potential EN applicability and the engineering constraints (sight distance, stormwater/septic requirements), and return with recommendations. Neighbors and the applicant will have an opportunity to present additional information to planning before the matter returns to council.