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Collegedale BZA approves variance to allow smaller lot ahead of rezoning request
Summary
The Collegedale Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance to the minimum lot-size requirement for a 15,833-square-foot parcel on Lee Highway, allowing the owner to seek rezoning to Shopping Center Commercial and follow-up setback variances.
The Collegedale City Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously to approve BZA 2025-02, a variance from the Shopping Center Commercial district minimum lot-size requirement, allowing a 15,833-square-foot parcel on Lee Highway to pursue commercial zoning and subsequent setback variances.
The variance request, presented by city planning staff during the board’s meeting, sought relief from a 25,000-square-foot minimum lot-size standard “set forth for the zoning district, specifically in the Shopping Center Commercial,” according to staff. The parcel is currently zoned I-1 (industrial) and sits adjacent to multiple properties zoned C2 (Shopping Center Commercial). Staff said the lot’s size and configuration predate the current zoning and cannot be expanded because of surrounding development patterns.
The request was backed by the property owner, Catherine Primm, who said she bought the property from her father and that the lot was annexed before her purchase. Primm told the board the parcel’s small size creates practical limitations for industrial use and said one concern is that “if there’s a natural disaster or something like that, she would not be able to rebuild the practice as it currently sits.”
Planning staff advised that approval of the minimum-lot variance is a prerequisite to later requests for front-yard and side-yard setback variances. Staff said those setback variances would be considered at a subsequent meeting if the board approved the lot-size variance.
Member Lehman moved to approve the variance. Member Moody seconded. The roll-call vote recorded Member Lehman voting yes, Member Moody voting yes and Chairwoman Gray voting yes, approving the motion.
The board’s staff report described the hardship as inherent to the land because the parcel’s 15,833-square-foot size predates the current zoning standard and is bordered on three sides by C2 zoning. Staff said the property’s condition is “site specific” and that approval “would not set a precedent” for similar variances citywide, to the extent staff is aware.
No members of the public spoke during the allotted public-comment period for this item.
Next steps: If the owner pursues rezoning to C2, staff said the owner must return to request the front-yard and side-yard setback variances; staff indicated the rezoning would not proceed unless those necessary variances were approved.
Votes at a glance: BZA 2025-02 — Motion to approve variance to the Shopping Center Commercial minimum lot-size (25,000 sq ft) for a 15,833-square-foot parcel at Lee Highway: approved, unanimous (Lehman — yes; Moody — yes; Gray — yes).
