Commission deadlocks on West Highway 2570 rezoning after hours of public opposition

Commissioners spent more than an hour debating a request to rezone a 2.24-acre parcel on West Highway 2570 from A-1 (agriculture/forestry) to R-2 (high-density residential), but neither a motion to deny nor a motion to approve reached the votes required to adopt the change.

The hearing opened with a brief presentation from the property owner, who distributed materials describing his proposal. Dozens of residents and several written letters were read into the record opposing the change. Opponents cited increased traffic, the location’s blind hill, the rural character of the area and the absence of public utilities needed to support multifamily units.

“I am opposed to it,” resident Gwen Moore told the commission, citing safety concerns on the highway and the neighborhood’s character. Several other residents argued that reclassifying the parcel to R-2 would create a precedent for spot zoning that could spur further dense development in otherwise rural valleys.

Planning staff and a commissioner who serves on the planning commission urged caution. “The request from A-1 to R-2 high density residential is not warranted,” a planning-commission representative read into the record, saying the parcel is in an area of low-density housing with no similar zoning nearby and limited utilities.

Commissioners debated the legal and fiscal consequences of approving the rezoning, noting that utilities and roads in the area are not designed for higher-density development and that approving one R-2 parcel could make it harder to deny future requests on neighboring properties. One commissioner said approving the rezoning could be “opening Pandora’s box.”

The commission first considered a motion to deny the rezoning; that motion failed to reach the required majority. A subsequent motion to approve also failed to gain the votes needed to pass. The chair stated the commission did not adopt the rezoning at this meeting; the item may be revisited in a future session if proponents return with supplemental information or changes.

The record includes multiple letters from neighbors asking commissioners to preserve the county’s rural character and follow the county’s urban growth plan; one letter cited Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) provisions the author said preclude reclassifying rural-area parcels to higher-density districts.

Next steps: no final action was taken; the commission did not adopt the R-2 zoning for the West Highway 2570 parcel during this meeting.