Planning staff recommend conditions for Locust Hill Lane seven-lot subdivision amid hillside and sight-distance concerns

Mike (Speaker 4), a planning staff presenter, reviewed a seven-lot concept plan on Locust Hill Lane off Chapman Highway in South Knoxville. He said the roughly 5.43-acre site is almost entirely within the hillside protection area and described a disturbance budget of 1.97 acres with the proposal disturbing 1.93 acres.

Key staff recommendations include widening the substandard Locust Hill Lane frontage from roughly 15–16 feet to 20 feet, certification of sight distance at Chapman Highway before access is finalized, compliance with hillside-protection disturbance limits and retaining walls to limit grading. Staff also recommended recording on the final plat the amount of land disturbance allocated to each lot to prevent individual lots from exceeding their share.

Commissioners asked practical questions about the stormwater detention pond, which staff said is L-shaped and spans two lots, and whether the pond would be a maintenance-as-common-area or whether adjoining lot owners would each be responsible for their portion. Staff clarified that if the pond is not in a common-area easement, each lot owner would be responsible for the portion on their lot but the stormwater ordinance allows common-area maintenance agreements for older subdivisions.

On enforcement, commissioners asked how the county would monitor that disturbance limits are respected during construction. Mike and plans-review staff said exceeding the disturbance would require a Level 2 hillside protection application and Planning Commission review; they noted enforcement is easier on paper than in the field, but the city has recently hired a landscape reviewer/inspector which increases pre-construction meetings and inspection capacity.

What happens next: staff recommended approval with conditions; no final vote or recorded outcome appears in the transcript.