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Council hears contested background on 350 Powerhouse Road rezoning; Planning Commission recommended buffer and mixed industrial-reserve split

3175621 · March 19, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

City planning staff and council members discussed a rezoning application for the former Department of Energy parcel at 350 Powerhouse Road, where the Planning Commission recommended a split zoning that would place an RG-1 buffer zone along the Clinch River and IND-1 industrial zoning on the remainder, rejecting the property owner’s initial IND-1/IND-2 request.

City planning staff summarized a contentious rezoning application for 350 Powerhouse Road during the March 18 council work session, explaining the property's Department of Energy history, deed-use restrictions and the staff and Planning Commission recommendations.

Jennifer (planning staff) told council the roughly 365-acre parcel transferred from the Department of Energy to the community reuse organization and then to a private owner. The deed includes land-use restrictions that limit uses on the property to those permitted in the city's IND-1, IND-2 and IND-3 industrial districts and commercial/recreational UB-2 uses. Staff said the site is not vacant unconstrained acreage: there are easements, digging-depth restrictions and topographic limitations and…

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