Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Subdivision Regulations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Staff proposes subdivision regulation changes to allow shared driveways, shift approvals to engineering and law
Summary
Staff proposed amendments to subdivision access standards to add a shared driveway easement (serving up to two units) and to replace Planning Commission review of alternative access legal documentation with engineering and law department review; staff recommended approval.
Planning staff presented proposed amendments to the Knoxville-Knox County subdivision regulations that would add an alternative access standard and a shared driveway easement to section 3.03, and recommended approval. Andrea (planning staff) said the amendments are designed to align subdivision rules with a recently amended city zoning ordinance that established a single-family attached dwelling use.
Andrea said the proposed subsection would allow a shared driveway to serve a maximum of two dwelling units and still meet minimum individual driveway dimensions, but would not be required to meet the existing 25-foot minimum right-of-way width for access easements. "A shared driveway is a single driveway that may serve a maximum of 2 dwelling units," Andrea said. She explained that in the city a shared driveway may be used by single-family attached development for two lots with legal frontage on a public street, and that legal documentation of the alternative access would still be reviewed and approved by the city or county Law Department.
The amendments also propose replacing Planning Commission approval of the legal instrument for alternative access with review by the applicable engineering and law departments so plats using alternative access standards could be approved at the staff level; staff told commissioners both city and county engineering departments support this change because it provides more flexibility and speeds up approvals. Andrea provided examples of how a shared driveway could be sited on a lot and clarified that access easements, whether in the city or county, are intended to serve single-family dwellings, duplexes or townhouse lots only.
Commission members asked whether a homeowner could develop the rear of a lot using an easement; Andrea said in the city legal street frontage is required but county situations can be more flexible depending on zoning. No formal vote was recorded in the transcript; staff's formal recommendation at the close of the presentation was to approve the proposed amendments.
