Planning commission approves CareCuts day center on Clinton Highway after heated public comment

The Knoxville Knox County Planning Commission voted Jan. 8 to approve a special-use permit allowing CareCuts to operate a daytime social-service center at 5200 Clinton Highway, despite strong opposition from nearby businesses and residents.

CareCuts board member and property representative Mary Catherine Wormsley urged the commission to approve the application, saying the organization provides day services — including ID assistance, mailing address services, clothing, haircuts, referrals to housing and behavioral-health partners, and computer access — and is not an overnight shelter. “This is not a correct description of the operation,” Wormsley said, asking commissioners to note that the organization expects to serve 40–60 people on Tuesdays and Fridays, up to 80 on Sundays, and estimate a maximum of about 28 people inside the building at any given time.

Opponents at the hearing said the Clinton Highway location raises public-safety and traffic concerns for adjacent businesses and patrons. Crystal White, who manages the nearby Knoxville Expo Center, said that placing a high-volume resource center “less than a quarter of a mile from our facility…will just intensify these challenges,” and warned of increased trespassing, drug use and confrontational behavior. Attorney David Hamilton noted crash history in nearby intersections and described sidewalk and crossing deficiencies near the proposed site.

Supporters including Judge Chuck Cerny and other community members said CareCuts’ day-center model connects people to housing and services. “Allowing CareCuts to operate their ministry in this location will reduce the burden on this area because persons who are nearby will go from desperate to secure,” Cerny told the commission. Several speakers said the organization has an established record of moving people into housing.

During discussion commissioners weighed land-use standards, neighborhood impacts and a question about whether the Religious Exemption Act could apply; city law department staff told the commission they had not yet had an opportunity to evaluate that potential exemption. Commissioner Overton, one of the motion’s sponsors, framed the issue as a service-delivery decision and said opposition often reflected discomfort rather than a land-use standard: “Frankly, I’m sick and tired of people talking about homeless people as if they’re not people,” he said before moving to approve the special use per staff recommendation.

The commission approved the special-use permit by voice vote; the chair announced “the ayes have it.” Staff’s approval recommendation noted conditions (three specific conditions in the staff report). The commission also asked planning staff to review zoning language governing social-service centers and personal-service establishments to determine whether definitions should be revised so similar services are treated consistently across zones.

Next steps: the special-use approval is subject to the conditions in the staff report, and opponents retain the right to appeal commission decisions to the city council or pursue private remedies if restricted by separate covenants. The law department’s review of the Religious Exemption Act question was pending at the hearing.